Winds of Change
by MorningstarZero
Summary: An alternate ending to season 02 that takes the Digidestined on a life altering adventure. Any and all feedback welcome. *Re-Writes for Chapters 1-5 up*
1. Chapter 1: The DigiWreacking Crew!

Winds of Change  
By: Zero

Words from the author:  
This is my first attempt at actually writing out an idea for a FanFic that has popped into my head.  
When I chose to write Winds of Change, I had a hard time trying to figure out where to place my story in the Digimon time line. After looking at all the major plot points that I wanted to cover and events that would have needed to happen, I really couldn't find a spot to fit it in. So instead, Winds of Change became an "Alternate Universe". Winds of Change follows the story of the entire 1st season of Digimon, and up through Episode 37 (Kyoto Dragon) of the 2nd season.  
I introduce two new main characters into the Digimon universe, Alex Jansen and Marcus Reichert. You'll learn more about them as the story progresses obviously.  
It's my sincerest wish that I'll be able to write this story well enough to take you on the roller coaster of action, intrigue, and emotion that I envision it to be.  
Thank you for your time, attention, and most of all, thank you for choosing to read Winds of Change. Enjoy!  
-Zero

Chapter 1: The Digi-Wrecking Crew!

"Where is Davis? I wanna get going!"  
Cody, Upamon, T.K., Patamon, Kari, Gatomon, Yolei, and Poramon were all sitting in the computer room, waiting for Davis and Demi-Veemon to show up so they could go to the Digital World to continue their clean up of all the Control Spires.  
"You're a little more anxious to get going than usual, what's wrong Yolei?" asked Kari.  
"Just had a bad day in class. Nothing that knocking down a couple hundred Control Spires won't cure though."  
"Speaking of, what area are we cleaning out today?" inquired T.K.  
"As I recall, we were planning on cleaning out the Northern zone of the Angic desert today." replied Cody.  
"Another desert zone? Can't we pick anywhere more scenic?" pouted T.K.  
"I'm as tired of these desert areas as you are T.K., but the Angic desert also has the highest concentration of Control Spires right now, and the more Spires we destroy, the better of the Digital World will be." replied Kari.  
"You're right Kari, I'm sorry."  
"Don't worry about it T.K..." Kari walked over to T.K. and whispered, "Besides, it gives us a chance to spend some quality time together."  
T.K. blushed, "Uh, Kari?"  
"Yes, T.K.?"  
"I was.. Uh.. wondering if..." Kari's D-Terminal suddenly chirped to life, interrupting him.  
Kari quickly pulled her D-Terminal from her pocket., "Hey, it's an e-mail from Ken. He says he already in the Angic desert and wants to know where we are."  
Just as Yolei was about to speak up, the door to the computer room slammed open and Davis came charging in.  
"Well it's about bloody time you got here!" scolded Yolei  
"I'm sorry, soccer practice ran late. Are we all ready to go?" Davis asked between gasps.  
"Yeah, we're all set and Ken is waiting for us in the Angic desert." replied Cody.  
"Hey Davis, where's Demi-Veemon?" asked Patamon  
"Oh shoot!" Davis quickly opened up his gym bag. Demi-Veemon's head immediately popped out of the opening.  
"DAVIS!! DON'T YOU EVER PUT ME IN THERE WITH YOUR GYM SOCKS AGAIN!!"  
"Sorry buddy! I promise that it won't happen again."  
"Ok, so is everyone ready to go?" asked Yolei  
Everyone else replied in unison "READY!"  
"Well then," Yolei turned to face the computer monitor "DIGI-PORT OPEN!"  
A blue light flooded the computer room as the digidestined and their digimon were pulled through the Digi-port into the Digital World.

They arrived in the Digital World, everyone dressed in their usual clothing.  
The team quickly surveyed the area to make sure there was nothing around that would interrupt their work. They all saw the same thing...desert, miles and miles of desert as far as the eye could see, and whole hoard of Control Spires.  
Ken and Stingmon came zipping over to where the others had zoned in.  
"Well it's about time you guys got here. I almost started the fun without ya." said Ken.  
"Thanks for waiting. We would have been here sooner, but Davis took his sweet time getting to the computer room." Yolei said.  
Wanting to take the attention off of himself Davis quickly spoke up, "Common everyone, let's party!"  
"RIGHT!" the other five responded.  
"DIGI-ARMOR ENERGISE!"  
"Veemon armor-digivolve to... Flamedramon, the fire of courage!"  
"Patamon armor-digivolve to... Pegasusmon, flying hope!"  
"Armadillomon armor-digivolve to...Digmon, the drill of knowledge!"  
"Hawkmon armor-digivolve to... Halsemon, the wings of love!"  
"Gatomon armor-digivolve to... Nefertimon, the angel of light!"  
"Ok, let's partner up and get started." said Davis  
"Sounds good, T.K; and I will start here and head east" said Kari  
Before Davis had a chance to object, T.K. and Kari flew off on Pegasusmon and Nefertimon to begin destroying Control Spires.  
"Ken and I will start here and head north." said Yolei as she grabbed Ken.  
Again, not giving Davis a change to object, Yolei and Ken made a quick get away on Halsemon's back.  
"Guess that leaves you and me Davis. We should start here and head south." Cody said.  
Davis hung his head in defeat and sighed "Yeah, whatever. Common Flamedramon, we have work to do." He then turned and started to walk off.  
"Hey, Davis, wait up!" cried Flamedramon as he ran after Davis to catch up with him.  
"Hey Cody, what's eating Davis?" asked Digmon  
"I dunno Digmon, he seemed in a pretty good mood in the computer room. I'm kinda worried about him." answered Cody.  
"Maybe some mindless destruction will cheer him up."  
"I dunno, I've never seen him like this before."  
Cody and Digmon looked at each other, shrugged their shoulders in unison, and then ran after their friends.

"Just look at them. Knocking over our Control Spires like they were toys to be played with. They have no respect for how much work it took to put up all those up." Mummymon whined.  
Mummymon and Arukenimon were sitting in their jeep, watching the digidestined hard at work from the top of a sand dune.  
"I'm not sure which is hurting my ears more right now, the sound of the Spires being knocked down or your incessant whining." complained Arukenimon.  
"Well, aren't we going to do anything about it?"  
"Of course we are you nit-wit! I just need to figure out..."  
Arukenimon was interrupted by her cell phone ringing.  
"Yes...Yes...You're sure?...I understand...We're on our way."  
"So, what's the plan?" enquired Mummymon  
"The boss has already sent someone to take care of the digidestined, we're to report back to get out new instructions. Seems there's a couple of new players in our little game of light verses dark."  
Mummymon and Arukenimon sped off in their jeep, leaving the digidestined to have free reign on the Control Spires...for now.

Seeking shade in the ruins of a couple mutilated Control Spires, T.K., Kari, Pegasusmon and Nefertimon decided to take a much needed break.  
Worn out by the all the work, Pegasusmon and Nefertimon reverted back to Patamon and Gatomon.  
"How long have we been out here T.K.?"  
T.K. pulled out his D-Terminal and checked the display.  
"About three hours. Have you heard anything from the others yet?"  
"I got a message Yolei about twenty minutes ago saying that she and Ken were having a great time and everything was going smoothly."  
"Anything from Davis and Cody?"  
"Nope. Not a thing."  
T.K. reached into his backpack and pulled out four bottles of water.  
"Here ya go guys, drink up." T.K. said as he handed Patamon and Gatomon each a bottle of water.  
"Thanks T.K.!!" said Patamon.  
"This is just what I needed." said Gatomon.  
T.K. walked over to where Kari was sitting and sat down next to her.  
"And for the lady." T.K. said as he offered Kari a bottle.  
"Why thank you kind sir." Kari said as she accepted the bottle from T.K.  
Both T.K. and Kari were quiet as they drank their water.  
"Hey T.K." Kari whispered.  
"What Kari."  
"Look." Kari gestured over to where Patamon and Gatomon were sitting.  
Both of the digimon had made short work of their water and were napping, curled up together like kittens..  
"Heh, that's cute." T.K. responded.  
"Hmm.. I think they have the right idea." Kari said as she snuggled up to T.K.  
"Uh... Um... Kari..." It was too late, Kari was already out like a light.  
T.K. slipped his arm around Kari's shoulders; she responded by wrapping her arms around his chest.  
"Sweet dreams."  
T.K. reached into his pocket, grabbed his D-Terminal, and set the alarm to go off in an hour. He then let his head rest against the ruins, pulled his hat down over his eyes, and fell asleep.

Ken, Yolei, Hawkmon and Wormmon were also taking a break in the shade of control spires.  
"This heat is almost unbearable." Ken complained as he unbuttoned the top three buttons of his uniform.  
"Well, maybe if you opted to wear something a little cooler other than that dark gray school uniform the heat might not be so hard to deal with." replied Yolei  
"I can't imagine Davis is doing much better than me with that bomber jacket of his."  
Yolei chuckled a little, "You'll think the idea to take the jacket off will cross his mind?"  
"Knowing him, probably not."  
Ken and Yolei both started laughing.  
"Yolei?"  
"Yes Ken?"  
"Why'd you choose to partner up with me? Usually when we do things like this, you and Kari run off together."  
"Well, that's kinda the reason. She and I have spent a lot of girl time together lately."  
"That's it?"  
"Well, that and she had other plans for her an T.K."  
"She and T.K.? They aren't..."  
"Dating? No, not yet. However, if Kari has things her way, that'll change soon."  
"Oiy. Life around here is gonna get pretty interesting."  
"What makes you say that Ken?"  
"Well if you hadn't noticed, Davis kinda has a crush on Kari."  
Yolei sighed, "Yeah, both Kari and I are aware of that. Thing is, I'm actually going to feel more sorry for you than I am Davis?"  
"Why's that?"  
"Well, you do realize that Davis will most likely turn to you to for a friend to talk to about this."  
Ken's face lost a little color, "Oh crap."  
"Yeah, I'd be saying that too if I were in your shoes."  
"No, Davis I can deal with. THAT'S what I was saying oh crap to." Ken gestured in the direction he was looking.  
Yolei looked in the direction Ken pointed; her face paled, "Oh crap."

Cody supervised Flamedramon and Digmon as they knocked down Control Spires. Cody looked over his shoulder at Davis, who, lost in his own world, sat moping amongst some debris.  
"He looks so sad Digmon, I wish there was something I could do."  
"Well, why don't you go over there and ask him what wrong?"  
"You think that'll help?"  
"Never know until you try"  
Cody walked over to where Davis was seated.  
"Davis, you've been completely silent for the last three hours. What's on your mind?" enquired Cody.  
"Nothing, there's nothing wrong, alright!" Davis replied sharply.  
Cody held up both hands, taken back by Davis aggressiveness, "Okay, Okay I'm just worried about you, that's all."  
"I'm sorry I snapped at you Cody. It's nothing to do with you. I'm just frustrated." Davis said in a much calmer tone, "You wouldn't understand."  
"It's about Kari isn't it? The fact that you like her, but she seems to be more interested in T.K.."  
Davis drew back in surprise. "Um, yeah... That's part of it."  
"Just part?" Cody's face lost some color as he glanced behind his friend, "Uh, Davis, I think we have a problem."  
Davis looked over his shoulder to see what had Cody so frightened.  
About a hundred yards out, there were seven large black insect shaped figures moving toward them.  
"Judging by the size of the dust cloud behind them, they're moving pretty fast." Cody observed.  
Davis reached into his pocket and pulled out a small spyglass to get a better look.  
"They look kinda like gigantic scorpions, except they have two stinger tails and four pincer arms. And wait, what's that? It looks like they have a white skull tattooed on their back."  
"DIGMON, FLAMEDRAMON!!" Cody yelled at the top of his lungs.  
The two digimon came running as fast as they could move.  
"What are they, Davis?" Flamedramon asked.  
"I have no idea buddy, but I think you and Digmon should digivolve to Champion."  
"Don't you think we should try and run?" Cody asked.  
"I don't think we could out run them, even on Raidramon." Davis replied, shaking his head.  
"And there's really no where around here to hide." Digmon added.  
"So, we make our stand here." Flamedramon stated.  
Digmon and Flamedramon de-evolved to Armadillomon and Veemon.  
Davis and Cody both pulled out their D3's.  
"Veemon digivolve to... ExVeemon!"  
"Armadillomon digivolve to... Ankylomon!"  
The first of the black Digimon approached and wasted no time establishing their intentions, "Terror Beam!" A stream of energy arced between the two stingers of the digimon's tails, and then a crimson colored energy beam lanced forth toward ExVeemon, just missing him.  
"Well, at least they're not being subtle about their intentions." ExVeemon quipped as he dodged.  
Ankylomon charged the first black digimon; "Tail Hammer!"  
The black digimon's two left arms grabbed Ankylomon's tail, and then the right two arms flipped Ankylomon on his back.  
"Ankylomon look out!" cried Cody, but it was too late; the black digimon sunk its pair of stingers into Ankylomon's underbelly and then used all four arms to toss Ankylomon back toward Cody.  
As Ankylomon landed with a thud, he de-evolved back to Armadillomon.  
"Well that wasn't very nice. Let's see how you like this, V-Laser!" the X shaped energy lanced out from ExVeemon's chest, and struck the black digimon cleanly. The black digimon put its four thickly armored pincer arms up to shield itself. The blast seemed to have little effect.  
"Terror Beam!" a second black digimon fired a crimson colored energy beam at ExVeemon. This beam, unlike the first, found its mark and sent ExVeemon flying through the air, he landed a few feet from Armadillomon and de-evolved to Veemon.  
Davis and Cody rushed to the aid of their fallen companions.  
"I'm sorry Davis, I tried my best." whimpered Veemon.  
"Don't worry buddy, we'll figure out something." Soothed Davis.  
The seven black digimon encircled the digidestined and their fallen digimon.  
"Who are you? What do you want from us?" Cody asked the black digimon directly in front of him.  
The black digimon replied in a haunting, almost whisper; "Die."  
Davis, Cody, Veemon and Armadillomon huddled close together.  
"You boys look like you could use a hand."  
Davis, Cody, Veemon and Armadillomon all looked in the direction of the strange voice.  
Perched on the top of a near by pile downed Control Spires stood a figure, clad in dark blue and purple tinted armor. His helmet was opened faced with a tinted visor that covered his eyes.  
"Who are you?" asked Cody.  
"A friend." The figure's hands began to glow with pure white energy, "Veemon, Armadillomon, catch!"  
The spheres of energy flew towards the fallen digimon, hitting them square in the chest.  
Both Veemon and Armadillomon immediately perked up upon being struck.  
"Now this is an odd feeling." stated Veemon.  
"Yeah, I feel kinda fuzzy inside." replied Armadillomon.  
"Veemon digivolve to... ExVeemon...digivolve to... CYBER DRAMON!"  
"Armadillomon digivolve to... Ankylomon... digivolve to …ANDROMON!"  
"What in the world!?!" Davis exclaimed.  
"Veemon and Armadillomon, they digivolved to Ultimate." Cody replied awestruck.  


So, you've probably got a few questions on your mind by now. Who are these black digimon? And who is this stranger in the armor that has somehow granted Veemon and Armadillomon the power to evolve to their Ultimate forms, Cyber Dramon and Andromon. You'll just have to wait to read the second chapter of Winds of Change entitled "The Gentle breeze of Remembrance."


	2. Chapter 2: The Gentle breeze of Remember...

Chapter 2: The Gentle breeze of Remembrance

Cyber Dramon and Andromon scooped up Davis and Cody and leapt away to a safe distance from the black digimon.  
"Wow! That was some power boost. What do you say we give these guys a little pay back Andromon?" asked Cyber Dramon.  
"I think that would be a most logical course of action Cyber Dramon." replied Andromon  
The seven black digimon turned to face Cyber Dramon and Andromon.  
Cyber Dramon charged at the black digimon closest to him, "ERASE CLAW!!" The black digimon tried to protect itself, but to no avail. Cyber Dramon's powerful claws cut through the digimon's forearms, causing it to rear back in pain just before disintegrating into thousands of black particles.  
Cyber Dramon quickly turned his attention to another of the black digimon to the right of him, "CYBER NAIL!!" Having caught his opponent off guard, Cyber Dramon's sharp claw tore into the black digimon's side - it, too, disintegrated.  
Andromon raised his right arm and pointed at four of the remaining black digimon, "GATTALING MISSILE!!" A swarm of miniature missiles shout forth from Andromon's arm, once the smoke had cleared from the large explosion that followed, nothing remained of the four black digimon but a brief cloud of black particles.  
Cyber Dramon looked over at Andromon, "Where'd the last one go?"  
"I don't know, I lost track of him in the explosion." Andromon answered.  
"Well, he couldn't have gotten very far."  
The black digimon erupted from the sand behind Cyber Dramon and brought its pincer arms back into a striking position.  
"Cyber Dramon, watch out behind you!!" Davis shouted.  
"INCOMING!!" a voice from far above shouted, followed a second later by a spear skewering the remaining black digimon. The spear was followed a second later by a loud sonic boom that caused everyone to cover their ears and wince their eyes closed.  
Once everyone opened their eyes, all they could see that remained of Cyber Dramon's would be attacker was a long spear protruding from the sand surrounded by a dispersing cloud of black particles.  
The armored figure fell from the sky a few seconds later and landed next to the spear. He retrieved the spear from where he had thrown it, and walked over to Cody and Davis.  
The armored figure towered over Cody and Davis, standing at least six feet tall.  
"Head back to where you logged into the Digital World, the others will join you shortly. I know you have many questions, and I'll do my best to answer them after I've rescued your friends."  
The armored figure then turned his attention to Cyber Dramon and Andromon, "Sorry guys, but I'm gonna need my energy back." He raised his left hand, which began glowing white.  
Cyber Dramon and Andromon glowed white for a few brief seconds, then streams of white energy shot forth from each of them and snaked their way back to the armored figure's glowing hand. As the energy left them, Cyber Dramon and Andromon de-evolved back to Veemon and Armadillomon.  
The rookie digimon ran over to their partners.  
"Get going, I'll do my best to get your friends back safely as well."  
Cody and Davis nodded their heads in agreement, then turned to head back to where their day had began.

Ken turned to face Yolei, "I think it's time we got out of here."  
"I think I agree with you." She replied.  
Ken and Yolei ran over to where Wormmon and Hawkmon were taking a break.  
"What is it Ken? What's wrong?" Wormmon asked.  
"There's something headed this way and judging by the amount of sand being kicked up it's big and moving fast." Ken answered.  
"And we don't have any intention of sticking around to see what it is." Yolei added.  
Ken and Yolei both raised their D3's and pointed them at their digimon partners.  
"Wrommon digivolve to... Stingmon!"  
"Hawkmon digivolve to... Aquilamon!"  
Ken and Yolei both hopped up on Aquilamon's back, and then took to the sky with Stingmon following not far behind.  
After a few moments, Ken looked back over his shoulder to see if he could see the source of the large sand cloud he had seen approaching them. He saw seven black digimon, and they were following, fast.  
Ken turned around and tapped Yolei on the shoulder, Yolei turned to face him.  
"We may have a problem." Ken said.  
Three beams of crimson energy shot passed them, narrowly missing. "Correction, we have a problem."  
"What's the plan guys?" Aquilamon asked.  
"There are too many of them for the four of us to take on. Our best chance is to run."  
"Run where though?" Stingmon asked.  
"I'm working on it!" Ken replied.  
"Well think faster, our problem may have just gotten bigger" Aquilamon interjected.  
Ken and Yolei both faced forward to try and see what Aquilamon was talking about; running toward them at a humanly impossible speed, was a single humanoid figure.  
"What now?" Yolei asked, panicked.  
"Keep going, and pray the this one is friendly."  
Another volley of energy beams shot past, Aquilamon and Stingmon dodged the inbound fire with some effort.  
Yolei and Ken watched intently as the figure came closer and closer, and then finally leaped high into the air. In a single leap, he was well above their heads. They did their best to keep their eyes on him, but lost him in the bright desert sun.  
"INCOMING!!"  
The airborne quartet watched as a spear passed between them and found its mark, skewering the lead black digimon, causing it to disintegrate into a cloud of black particles.  
The armored figure followed the spear's path, falling between Aquilamon and Stingmon. As he passed them, he spun in mid-air and threw two spheres of white energy.  
"Aquilamon digivolve to... PARROTMON!!"  
"Stingmon digivolve to... DINO BEEMON!!"  
"What the?!?! How'd you guys digivolve?" asked a very surprised Ken.  
"Whoever that is just gave us a nice big energy boost." Parrotmon replied.  
"You think we should help him out?" Dino Beemon asked.  
"Well, I think it would be kinda rude not to." Yolei said.  
The armored figure, still in the air, spun around again to face the black digimon. "BUSTER CANNON!!" a blue beam of energy lanced out from the armored figure's arm and slammed into another of the black digimon, causing it to instantly disintegrate.  
Dino Beemon and Parrotmon came about and made a low strafing run past their pursuers.  
"SONIC DESTROYER!"  
"IRRITANT BUZZ!"  
The sound based attacks blanketed the remaining black digimon and caused them disintegrate  
Dino Beemon and Parrotmon flew over to the armored figure and landed. Ken and Yolei dismounted.  
"Thanks for you help." Ken said.  
"Yeah, we really appreciate it." Yolei said.  
"Not a problem. Look, this area isn't safe for you guys anymore. I need you four to head back to where you logged in, I'll be along with the other members of your group shortly."  
"You sure you won't need our help?" Ken asked.  
The figure nodded his head, "I'll be fine. Now get going, there are a LOT more of those Dark Terrormon on their way."  
Ken and Yolei looked at each other, nodded and the hopped back on Parrotmon's back.  
"Oh, I almost forgot. Sorry guys, I'm gonna need that energy back." The figure raised his left hand, and the white energy returned to him from Dino Beemon and Parrotmon.  
As the energy left, Dino Beemon and Parrotmon de-evolved to Stingmon and Aquilamon.  
The quartet took to the sky once again, racing back toward where they had logged in while the armored figure collected his spear and ran off, heading southeast toward Kari and T.K.

T.K. awoke to the alarm tone of his D-Terminal. As he opened his eyes, he saw that everything was just as it had been an hour ago; Patamon and Gatomon were still curled up together taking a nap and Kari was still asleep and snuggled up to him. He reached down and shut off the alarm, then turned his attention to Kari. T.K. noticed that a stray lock of Kari's hair had fallen in her face while she slept; he reached over and gently brushed it back into place.  
Kari awoke as T.K. had just finished moving her hair.  
"Hi there sleepy head, have a nice nap?" T.K. asked.  
"It was wonderful. Thank you."  
"For what?"  
"For letting me to use you as a pillow."  
"Anytime."  
T.K. reached up and gently stroked Kari's cheek and stared deeply into her eyes. Kari stared back, studying T.K.'s eyes as if searching for something.  
Moving the hand he was using to stroke her cheek behind her neck, T.K. gently pulled Kari in a little closer, and leaned down.  
As his lips met hers, T.K. could feel his heart race, waiting to see how she'd react.  
Kari pulled herself into the embrace. As she felt T.K.'s hand behind her neck begin to tremble, she reached up and took his hand in hers, interlocking their fingers.  
They remained in the embrace for what seemed like an eternity, until T.K withdrew slowly from the kiss.  
"You have no idea how long I've wanted to kiss you." T.K. said quietly  
"Probably about as long as I've wanted you to kiss me." Kari sighed.  
The sound of someone clearing their throat interrupted the moment. Both T.K. and Kari looked to see who was there.  
"I'm sorry to interrupt you two, but I think we may have a problem." Gatomon whispered, and then gestured for the pair to follow her over to edge of the Control Spire. T.K. and Kari followed.  
Patamon was at the edge of the Control Spire peeking around the edge; as Kari, T.K. and Gatomon arrived, he stepped back toward them and gestured for T.K. and Kari to peek around the corner.  
They counted eight black digimon sifting through the ruins, apparently looking for something.  
"What are they?" Kari asked in a whisper.  
"I don't know, I've never seen digimon like them before." Patamon replied.  
A bright red light struck the corner of T.K.'s eye; he scanned the area for its source.  
Ducked down behind another downed Control Spire twenty feet away, was an armored figure. He was using a laser pointer to get T.K.'s attention.  
T.K. nudged the others, pointing out the armored figure to them.  
The figure gestured for them to stay where they were. The quartet nodded in acknowledgment.  
They watched as the figure came up from his hiding spot, reached over his left shoulder with his right hand and grabbed a silver cylindrical rod from its holder.  
As the rod was pulled free, a teal colored blade of energy droned to life from the emitter in the top of the cylinder.  
"Hey! You guys looking for me?" the figure shouted at the black digimon.  
The digimon turned to face the figure.  
"Well, now that I have your attention."  
The figure charged the group of digimon and struck them down one by one, dodging all their attempts to strike him with seeming ease.  
As the last of the black digimon disintegrated, the figure extinguished his weapon's blade and placed the weapon handle back in its holder.  
The quartet came out from behind their hiding spot and ran over to join the figure.  
"I'm… getting…. too old ….for this." The figure commented as he struggled to catch his breath.  
"Are you going to be alright?" Kari asked the stranger.  
"Yeah.... I'll be... just fine.... As soon... as I catch my... breath."  
"Do you have any idea what those digimon were and what they were doing here?" T.K. inquired.  
The figure took in one last deep breath to bring his breathing back under control, "They're called Dark Terrormon, and they were sent here to kill you and you digimon."  
"Who sent them? Arukenimon?" Kari asked.  
The figure shook his head, "No, the guy Arukenimon works for sent them."  
"The guy she works for!?! Who's that?" T.K. said.  
"Love to tell ya, but it's a long story and we're short on time."  
"Short on time?"  
"Yeah, there are more of those things on there way here."  
"How many?  
The figure paused for a moment, "Looks like about fifty or sixty."  
"How do you know that?"  
The figure tapped the visor on his helmet, "Built in soloton radar system. I can see the location and heading of every digimon in a twenty-kilometer radius. So, can we get going?"  
Kari and T.K. quickly pulled out their D3's and turned to face their partners.  
"DIGI-ARMOR ENERGIZE!!"  
"Patamon armor-digivolve to... Pegasusmon, flying hope!"  
"Gatomon armor-digivolve to... Nefertimon, the angel of light!"  
"Where are we headed to?" Pegasusmon asked.  
"Back to where you guys logged in, all your other friends are there waiting for us."  
"Can we offer you a ride?" Kari asked.  
"If it's not too much trouble, I'd appreciate it."  
"Kari and I will ride on Nefertimon. Pegasusmon will give you a lift." T.K. said.  
That said, Kari and T.K. hopped on Nefertimon and took to the sky. The armored figure hopped up on Pegasusmon and took off, following close behind the others.

Davis, Cody, Ken, Yolei, and their digimon milled around at the login point, anxiously awaiting the return of T.K. and Kari.  
As Yolei was pacing back and forth, she spotted two objects flying just above the horizon line, "Look!! I think I see them." Yolei said excitedly and pointed eastward.  
Davis quickly got to his feet, pulled out his spyglass and looked through it in the direction that Yolei had pointed, "Yup, it's them; and the guy that helped us is with them." Davis said.  
As the quintet landed, the others ran over to join them.  
"Are you two all right?" Yolei asked.  
"We're just fine, I'll tell you about it later Yolei." Kari said, and shot Yolei a wink.  
The armored figure dismounted from Pegasusmon, and gave Pegasusmon a pat on the neck, "Thanks for the ride. My legs were getting kinda tired."  
"My pleasure. It's the least I could do after you bailed us out back there." Pegasusmon replied.  
As T.K. and Kari hopped down from Nefertimon, the group turned their attention to the armored figure.  
"I'm sure you guys have got questions so I'll do what I can to answer them."  
"Well, why don't we start with introductions, I'm Cody. This is Davis, Ken, Yolei, T.K. and Kari."  
"Pleasure to meet you all. I'm Zero."  
"Zero? You're a human? I thought you were a digimon." Ken stated with a puzzled look on his face.  
"In this form I'm actually a little of both."  
"Both?" Ken raised an eyebrow  
"It's kinda complicated to explain, I'll tell you later when we have more time."  
"I though you said we'd be safe here." Davis said  
"The Dark Terrormon that attacked all of you were sent to kill you and your digimon. As I told T.K. and Kari, there are a lot more looking for you. It won't take them long to figure out which way you headed."  
"Dark Terrormon? I've never heard of those digimon before." Nefertimon said.  
"I'm not surprised. They're not from the Digital World."  
"Not from the Digital World? Where are they from then?" Kari nervously enquired.  
"Where else? The Negative Plane."  
"The Negative Plane?" Cody said inquisitively  
"Yeah, it's a dark and twisted place. It's always night, usually very foggy, and creepy as all heck."  
"It kinda sounds like the Dark Ocean." Yolei observed.  
"The Dark Ocean is part of the Negative Plane."  
"So, how did creatures from the Negative Plane get to the Digital World?" Ken asked.  
"And more importantly what are they doing here?" T.K. added  
"That's the million dollar question right now. I'm still trying to figure that out myself. They're obviously not friendly. I've got a feeling that the groups of Dark Terrormon we saw today are just part of an invasion spearhead. I'd love to explain more, but there's a rather large group Dark Terrormon headed this way now, you need to logout now."  
"What about you? Are you going to be safe?" Cody asked.  
"I'll be fine, don't worry about me."  
"How will we find you if we need you again?" Davis asked.  
"Don't worry, if you're in trouble, chances I won't be that far off. Now get going."  
The group nodded in agreement, and turned to face the TV.  
In a flash of blue light; Davis, Cody, T.K., Kari, Yolei and their digimon were gone; leaving Zero, Ken and Wormmon standing alone in the desert.  
"Guess it's our turn. Common Wormmon."  
"Ken, wait a second. I have a question for you."  
"Yah?"  
"What's your last name?"  
"Ichijouji. Why?"  
"Nothing, you just look like someone I used to know, that's all."  
Ken turned and faced the TV. In a flash of blue light, Ken and Wormmon disappeared.  
"Boy oh boy, little Kenny sure has grown in five years."  
Zero 's armor began glowing white, and then broke away from its wearer. After breaking away, the armor turned into pure energy, which reformed into a small dragon digimon.  
The armor's wearer stretched a little, thankful to be free of the armor's confines and back to wearing his usual attire; t-shirt, an untucked and unbuttoned denim shirt, steel-toed work boots, and Oakley, penny style, X-metal sunglasses, all black, save for his purple and blue D3 attacked to his belt and a grey star with a teal Z in the middle embroidered above the left pocket of his denim shirt.  
The small dragon looked up at his partner, who reach down and scooped up the small digimon.  
"I still can't understand how this is happening Alex. I thought we sealed the bridge between the Digital World and Negative Plane years ago."  
"So did I Pseudodramon, but it looks like someone found a way to break that seal. The question is who broke it, and why?"  
"Do you think it was Marcus?"  
"No. He doesn't have that much power. I'd be willing to bet he's working with whoever broke the seal though."  
"He's still angry after all these years?"  
"Yeah, he is."  
The partners stood in silence for a moment, pondering the past. A gentle breeze picked up, Alex closed his eyes and took in a deep breath and let it out slowly.  
"Alex? Are you alright?"  
"This breeze, I've felt it once before. The Winds of Change are about to start blowing Pseudodramon, just as they blew five years ago." Alex opened his eyes, "I had better get going, those Dark Terrormon will be here soon. Stay safe my friend."  
"You too." Pseudodramon gave his wings a couple of flaps and was airborne, flying away from Alex and the Dark Terrormon.  
Alex reached down and grabbed his D3 off his belt clip, "Digiworld Logout."  
The display of Alex's D3 began emitting a green light. The light enveloped Alex, then shot straight up into the sky.

"The wind.. calm, relaxing, and yet full of sorrow." Alex thought to himself.  
"Every time I feel a gentle wind I think of you Lauren. I can't believe its been five years. Five long years since we protected the Digital World. Five painful years since Marcus and I lost you and Jen."  
Alex paused, and sighed heavily.  
"The Winds of Change are starting to blow again in the Digital World... I felt it when I was there a couple of days ago... I only hope that Marcus and I can weather the coming storm."  
Alex kneeled down and placed a bouquet of roses next to the gravestone he'd been talking to. He took a moment to read the inscription on the gravestone:

Lauren Simmons  
1984 - 1996  
Loving Daughter, sister, and friend

"Ready to go Alex?"  
Alex stood up and turned to face his friend, Marcus.  
"Yeah, I suppose."  
"You do have a plane to catch."  
"Really? I had completely forgotten about that." Alex said sarcastically.  
Marcus and Alex began to walk over to where Marcus had parked his car.  
"I really wish you were coming with me Marcus."  
"Yeah well, I had two choices. Go with you and visit Japan, or look for a college to go to next year."  
Marcus and Alex both chuckled.  
"Yeah, I guess college is more important in the long run."  
There was an uncomfortable pause in the conversation.  
"Are you going to visit Sam while you're over there?"  
"Yeah, I planned on it. I'm also going to drop in on the rest of the Ichijouji clan."  
"Well, say hi to them all for me."  
They reached Marcus' car, got in, and drove off.

All of the digidestined, old and new, and their digimon sat in the shade of a tree at the public park, enjoying a picnic lunch.  
As usual, Davis was running a bit late, showed up last. No sooner had Davis and Demi-Veemon dug in and started eating, when Ken stood up.  
"I'm sorry guys, I have to get going."  
Of course, Davis was the first to speak up in his normal whiney tone, "But the picnic just started. You can't leave yet Ken."  
"Oh Davis, I'm sure whatever Ken has to take care of is really important." Kari interjected.  
"I have to go to the Tokyo International Airport and pick up an old friend of my brother's, Alex."  
"Kind of a odd time to go on an international trip, isn't it?" enquired Yolei  
"The U.S. schools have a 'Spring Break' around this time of year. It's also his Senior year in high school this year, and he wanted to visit Japan again."  
"He's visited before?"  
"Yeah, five years ago. Alex, his family, and a couple of his friends came over."  
"Why isn't your brother going to pick him up?"  
Ken's expression turned somber  
"Sam died about four years ago."  
Yolei, usually unflappable, stumbled for words, "Ken, I'm sorry. I...I...I..."  
Ken walked over to Yolei and hugged her.  
"It's alright Yolei."  
Wanting to end the awkward moment Davis spoke up, "So, how did your brother and Alex meet?"  
While still embracing Yolei, Ken turned his head to look at Davis, "I think they met over the Internet."  
"You think?"  
"Well, I know that Alex and Sam shared a common interest in computers; and they knew each other pretty well by the time Alex visited five years ago."  
"Any chance we'll get to meet him?" Izzy asked.  
"I don't see why not. He'll be staying in Japan for at least a week or so, and he never makes plans to do anything 'til he gets here."  
"Excellent, I look forward to meeting him."  
Everyone returned to their previous conversations:  
Davis and Tai discussed and upcoming soccer tournament, Sora and Matt went over their plans for their upcoming date, Kari and T.K. were taking note of the obvious attraction between Ken and Yolei and were betting on how long it would be before they realized they liked each other, Joe and Cody were absorbed in a philosophical debate, Izzy was in an internet chat talking to Mimi over in the U.S., all the Digimon were huddled together chowing down, and Ken and Yolei hadn't budged.  
After a few minutes, Yolei finally unburied her head from Ken's shoulder and looked him in the eye.  
"Ken?"  
"Yes, Yolei?"  
"Would you mind if I come with you to meet Alex?"  
"Not at all, I was actually hoping you'd ask."  
Ken and Yolei smiled at each other, then turned and walked to the bus stop hand in hand.  
Poramon noticed Ken and Yolei leaving, and turned to face Wormmon, "You think we should go with them Wormmon?"  
"No. I don't think they'll be needing us. Beside, I'm starved."  
Poramon nodded in agreement before returning to the sandwich he had been munching on.

"Sir? Sir?"  
Alex came to, as a flight attendant gently shook his shoulder. Alex removed his headphones, to listen to what she was telling him.  
"We'll be starting our final approach into Tokyo International in a few moments, I need you to turn off your CD player."  
"Ah, ok. Any idea on how long it will be until we land?"  
"Shouldn't be more than another ten minutes."  
"Thank you."  
Alex turned and looked out the window, down at Japan as the memories of five yeas ago washed over him. He recalled the first time he looked down at Japan from the air.

"Oh Alex, I'm so excited!! Just look at it! I can't wait to get down there!" beamed Lauren  
All Alex could do was smile as he looked at Lauren in the seat next to him; at least until he felt a crushing pain in his right hand.  
"Um, dear.. Your excitement is killing my hand."  
Lauren looked over to see what Alex was referring too. Indeed, Lauren had forgotten she was holding Alex's right hand. The part of Alex's fingertips that were visible was glowing a bright shade of red from being held so tightly.  
"I'm sorry dear."  
Lauren gently raised Alex's right hand and kissed it ever so lightly.  
"That better?"  
"Much. Thank you hon."  
Alex looked across the isle to see how Marcus and Jen were fairing. There were in the same position they had been in 5 hours ago, holding hands, Jen's head resting on Marcus' left shoulder, and both out like a light.  
"They really do make a cute couple." Alex noted.  
"Thank you, I consider them one of my best works." Lauren preened.  
"Yes dear, you are quite the match-maker."  
Lauren reached up, gently grabbed Alex's chin and turned his face to meet her's.  
"But I saved the best catch for myself."  
"Who is he?"  
"Who?"  
"The other guy your saving for yourself."  
Lauren gently slapped Alex's chest.  
"Jerk, I was referring to you."  
"Oh. Very good then."  
Alex leaned forward and kissed Lauren.  
After a few moments, Alex withdrew from the kiss and Lauren rested her head on Alex's right shoulder.  
"How much longer till we land?"  
Alex looked down at his watch.  
"Shouldn't be too much longer, half hour at most."  
Lauren let out a big yawn  
"Ok, wake me from my nap when we've landed."  
"Yes m'love."

"Sir, sir."  
"Huh wha?"  
"We've landed, you can disembark from the aircraft at this time."  
"Oh, thank you."  
Alex realized that he had been daydreaming again.  
He stood up, collected his notebook computer, and exited the airplane.

"I'm getting worried Ken. Almost all of the passengers are off the plane and I haven't seen Alex yet. Are you sure we're at the right gate?"  
"I'm positive that this is the gate and flight number that Alex sent me in his e-mail."  
Both of Ken and Yolei's D3's chirped to life.  
A look of surprise washed over both Ken and Yolei's faces.  
"What in the world?" Ken exclaimed as he pulled his black D3 from his pocket. The D3's display had one blip on it, "Well, whoever has the unidentified D3 is close and moving toward us."  
"Ken, look." Yolei gestured toward the ramp from the plane, "Is that him?"  
The guy Yolei pointed out looked to be 17 or 18 years old, about 5' 11" or 6' tall with shoulder length, sandy blond hair and light blue eyes. He was wearing black jeans, a white tee shirt, and an untucked and unbuttoned purple/black/blue flannel shirt.  
"Yeah, that's him."  
Ken waved his right hand over his head in an attempt to get Alex's attention.  
Seeing Ken trying to get his attention, Alex walked over to Ken and Yolei.  
"Ken Ichijouji I presume."  
"And you must be the infamous Alex Jansen."  
Ken and Alex shook hands.  
"Might I inquire as to who this vision of beauty is that you have accompanying you Ken?"  
Yolei blushed.  
"I'm Yolei. Yolei Inoue."  
"The pleasure is all mine Ms. Inoue." Alex bowed slightly to Yolei.  
"Well, shall we?" Alex said with a smile.  
The trio turned and left the plane terminal heading toward the baggage claim.

In the next chapter of "Winds of Change", Alex will meet the other digidestined and tell them of his adventures in the Digital World, but will anyone figure out that Alex is Zero? This and more in the next chapter of "Winds of Change" entitled: "A Tale of a time long past."


	3. Chapter 3: A Tale of a time long past

Chapter 3: A Tale of a time long past.

Ken, Yolei and Alex had retrieved Alex's luggage, passed through customs, and were now awaiting a bus back to the Tamachi.  
"So Alex."  
"Yes Kenny?"  
Ken drew back in surprise.  
Yolei looked at Ken and smiled playfully, "Kenny?" she enquired.  
"My brother used to call me that all the time. No one has called me that in years."  
"You don't mind me calling you that do ya?" Alex asked concerned.  
"No, not at all. It was just odd to be called Kenny again."  
"So, you were going to ask me something?"  
"Do you have a device that looks like this?" Ken asked as he held up his D3.  
"A D3? Oh yeah, I've got one."  
"Could I see it?"  
"Sure." Alex pulled back the right side of his flannel shirt, and retrieved his D3 from his belt.  
Alex's D3 looked exactly like the other D3's, except for it being colored blue and purple.  
Ken and Yolei looked at each other in amazement  
"So this means you've been to the Digital World and have a partner digimon right?"  
"You are correct."  
"How long ago did you get your D3?"  
"Oh geeze... Little more than five years ago."  
"So that's how you met my brother! You met in the Digital World."  
"Yup, it's also where I met Lauren, Jen, and became friends with Marcus."  
"How are they all doing?"  
"Well let's see, Marcus is doing just fine. He would have come with me except he had some last minute college visits he had to make."  
"What about Lauren and Jen?"  
Alex hesitated for a moment, "I thought you knew, they're dead."  
"No, I had no idea. How did it happen, if you don't mind talking about it."  
"It's alright, I don't mind. They died protecting the Digital World. Sam, Marcus, and I were lucky to have escaped that battle with our lives."  
"How long ago was that?"  
"About four and a half years ago." Alex paused, "Oh, our bus is here."  
Alex picked up his notebook carrying case and slung it over his shoulder, Ken grabbed Alex's duffle bag, and the trio boarded the bus.  
"Alex, my parents wanted you to drop by before you checked into the hotel; is that ok with you?" Ken asked.  
"Yeah that's cool. It'll be nice to see your parents again. Speaking of which, about how long is the bus ride?"  
"Forty-five minutes, give or take."  
"Well if you don't mind, I'm gonna take a quick nap. I have a fifteen hour time differential to get used to."  
That said, Alex opened the front flap of his notebook bag, pulled out his CD player and began listening to music as he drifted off to sleep.  
Ken relaxed, leaning his head back against the bus seat and let out a deep sigh.  
"Ken, what's on your mind?" Yolei asked.  
"It's nothing really. It's just, when Alex called me Kenny, it reminded me of how much I miss Sam."  
Yolei reached over and took Ken's hand in her's, "You know I'm here if you need me Ken."  
Ken gave Yolei's hand a gentle squeeze, "Thank you, that means a lot."  
They sat in silence the rest of the ride beck to Tomachi.

Davis looked up from his conversation with Tai and quickly scanned the area to see where everyone, particularly Kari, was. Too his horror, he couldn't spot Kari or T.K. anywhere.  
"Hey, did anyone see where Kari went?"  
"Yeah, she and T.K. said they were going for a walk about ten minutes ago." Sora replied.  
"Which way did they go?"  
Sora gestured toward a path that lead around the near by lake, "That way."  
"Thanks." Davis said and he quickly hopped up to his feet and took off down the path.  
Tai made an attempt to grab Davis' ankle as he darted by, but missed and fell into Matt.  
"Davis wait!!" Tai shouted, but Davis wasn't listening. "Crap!"  
Davis ran down the path trying to locate Kari and T.K.  
"If that jerk T.L. tries anything with my girl, he's gonna get it."  
Davis rounded a tight bend in the path, and spotted Kari and T.K. standing near the lake looking out over it. Moving silently, he ducked behind a tree close enough to be within earshot of Kari and T.K.'s conversation and decided to listen in.

T.K. wondered if Kari could sense how nervous he was, his heart beating was so fast and hard he could feel every beat throughout his chest. He couldn't' recall a moment in his life when he had been more anxious than he was right now.  
T.K. and Kari both turned to face each other.  
"T.K." "Kari" they said simultaneously.  
"You go first T.K."  
"Ok, I've been thinking about what happened a couple of days ago. I've been thinking about it a lot."  
Kari's eyes dropped, "Yeah."  
"Carp that came out all wrong, she didn't take it well." T.K. thought, "I've been thinking about all the things I wanted to say to you. I've been trying to think of the words to tell you how I feel," He reached down and took Kari's hands in his, "and I can't come up with any other words than these. I mean, I know we're still really young and all, and..."  
Kari closed her eyes and turned her head away from T.K. "T.K., just say it."  
"Damn it, this is coming out all wrong." T.K. took in a deep breath and let it out slowly, "I... I... I love you Kari."  
Kari's eyes snapped open in surprise, she brought gaze back up to meet T.K.'s. She looked deeply into T.K.'s eyes, and then she slowly stepped toward him, dropped T.K.'s hands, and clasped her hands up behind T.K.'s neck. As Kari dropped his hands, T.K. wrapped his arms around Kari's waist and clasped his hands together behind the small of her back. Kari leaned up toward T.K and whispered, "I love you too T.K." and before he could respond, gently pressed her lips up against his.  
T.K. relaxed into the kiss after the initial shock wore off, and tightened his grip around Kari's waist, pulling her closer into him.  
After a few minutes, they ended the kiss and remained in one another's arms.  
"I know this is kind of a silly question to ask at this point, but, would you be my girlfriend Kari?"  
"T.K..." she paused "You have no idea how long I've been waiting to her you ask me that. Yes, I've wanted nothing more in my life than to be your girlfriend."

Davis watched and listened in absolute horror. He felt the warm, fiery tears well up in his eyes and begin to flow. He suddenly felt short of breath as his heart felt like it was being squeezed between a vice. Deciding he could no longer endure this torture, Davis did the only thing he could... he got up and began running back up the path. Upon reaching the picnic site, Davis quickly scooped up Demi-Veemon and his backpack and charged off toward his house.

Tai watched as his young protégé run away from the group. Tai spotted Sora getting up to go after Davis; he held up his hand, gesturing for her to stop, "Let him go. I doubt there anything any of us can do to help him right now."  
"You think he'll be ok?"  
"He's a strong kid, he'll be fine in time. For now, though, I think he needs some time alone. I'll check in on him in a couple of hours when he's calmed down a little."  
"What do you think he saw that upset him so much Tai?" Matt asked.  
Tai looked over toward the path and saw T.K. and Kari, walking up the path hand in hand, both smiling brilliantly.  
"He saw his worst nightmare come true."

"Mom, I'm home." Ken called as he opened the door to the Ichijouji residence.  
Ken's mother came walking out of the kitchen, "Welcome home Ken dear. Oh, Alex is that you?"  
"Last time I checked it was." Alex said with a smile.  
Mrs. Ichijouji walked over to Alex and gave him a hug; "It's so good to see you after all these years. Just look at how tall you've grown. How's your mother doing?"  
"She's doing very well. In fact," Alex reached down into his duffle bag and produced an envelope, which he handed to Mrs. Ichijouji, "She wrote you a nice long letter. She also said to say that she's sorry she hasn't stayed in touch as often anymore, but she got really busy after she got promoted to CIO."  
"She got the promotion she wanted? That's wonderful!"  
"Umm. Ken said that you wanted to see me before I checked into my hotel."  
"Yes, we want you to stay here while you're in Japan. You were one of Sam's best friends, it just wouldn't be right for you to stay in a hotel while you're here."  
"Thank you very much. I don't see how I can turn an offer like that down."  
"I have so many questions that I want to ask you, but I'll let you get settled and relax first, I know it's a long flight from Minnesota to Japan."  
Mrs. Ichijouji turned her attention to Ken, "Ken, will you show Alex to the guest room?" she then noticed Yolei, "Oh, who's your friend Ken?"  
"Mom this is Yolei Inoue. She's part of the group in Odaiba that I usually hang out with."  
"It's a pleasure to meet you Mrs. Ichijouji." Yolei said.  
"It's so nice to finally meet one of Ken's friends, he talks about all of you so much. Especially you Yolei."  
"Oh really?"  
Ken blushed, "Mother."  
Alex grabbed his duffle bag and notebook computer case, "Common kiddo, why don't ya show me where I can drop my gear."  
"Sure, right this way."  
Ken quickly led Alex away.

"Thanks for rescuing me Alex."  
"Any time. So, pardon my asking, what's up with you and Yolei?"  
"Huh, what do you mean?"  
"Oh come on, it's kinda obvious that you like her."  
"Really?"  
"Yeah. It is."  
"It's complicated. I've done some terrible things in the recent past, and I don't know if she'd be able to see past them."  
Alex patted Ken on the shoulder, "I'll tell ya what Ken, later tonight I'll take you to dinner somewhere and we can talk it out. If that's ok with you."  
"I'm not quite sure you'll understand all of what I'll have to say."  
"Have anything to do with the Digimon Emperor?"  
Ken looked at Alex utterly stunned, "Ha...How...How did you know??"  
"Let's just say that I know more about the goings on in the Digital World than I care to at times. So, about dinner?"  
Ken nodded his head, "Yea, I'd like that." Ken turned and opened the door to the guest room, "Here's where you'll be staying."  
"Cool. Thanks Kenny."  
"Um, Alex. I have a group of friends that I'd like you to meet. I'm pretty sure that most of them are still at the park. Would you mind if we went back to the park after you get your things taken care of?"  
Alex tossed his duffle bag on the bed and slung his notebook carrier over his shoulder, "Ok, ready."  
The pair turned and walked back to the living room where they had left Yolei and Ken's mother, however the two women were nowhere to be found.  
"Ok, where's they go?" Ken asked.  
As if in answer to his question, the sound of two female laughs erupted from the kitchen.  
Ken and Alex walked into the kitchen area to see Yolei and Ken's mother sitting at the table.  
"Oh Ken, you mother was just telling me about some of your adventures when you were younger." Yolei said.  
Ken turned bright red, "Umm, We're going to head back to the park so I can introduce Alex to the rest of the crew, if that's ok with you Mother."  
"That's just fine Ken. Yolei it was wonderful to meet you, feel free to drop over any time."  
"Thank you. I will Mrs. Ichijouji." Yolei said.  
"Alex, before you leave, take this with you." Mrs. Ichijouji walked over and handed Alex a key, "This is just so you can get in and out as you need while you're here."  
"Thank you. I really appreciate you allowing me to stay here. If it's ok with you, I'd like to take Ken to dinner somewhere tonight and spend some time together."  
"That would be wonderful Alex. You two go right ahead and have a good time. I'd like him home by 10:30 tonight."  
"10:30 it is."  
That said; Alex, Ken, and Yolei all exited the Ichijouji's apartment and boarded the bus headed for the park.

Davis arrived back in his apartment, stormed past Jun as she made a futile attempt to stop and riddle him with questions about Matt, and locked himself in his room.  
Having bolted the door to his room shut, he set down his backpack and collapsed, face first, on his bed and resumed crying.  
Demi-Veemon spent the next several moments struggling to get out of Davis' backpack. Having freed himself, Demi-Veemon walked over and hopped up on Davis' bed.  
"Davis, what's wrong?"  
Davis didn't even look up at his partner, "Go away, I just want to be alone right now."  
"But Davis...."  
Demi-Veemon was interrupted as Davis roughly picked him up and walked over to his computer.  
"Uh...Davis, what are you doing?" Demi-Veemon asked nervously.  
Davis pulled his D3 from his pocket, "DIGI-PORT OPEN!!!" he then unceremoniously hurled Demi-Veemon into the Digi-port and then closed it.  
Having achieved the peace he wanted, Davis returned to his bed.

"WE'RE BACK!" Yolei shouted as she, Ken, and Alex approached the rest of the Digidestined.  
"Alex, I'd like you to meet the Digidestined; this is Tai, Matt, Sora, Izzy, Joe, Cody, Kari, and T.K. Guys, I'd like you to meet Alex Jansen."  
"A pleasure to finally meet all of you." Alex said, "It's not every day you get to meet the people that clean up your mistakes."  
Everyone looked at Alex confused.  
"What do you mean Alex?" Joe asked.  
Alex reached pulled back the right side of his untucked flannel shirt to reveal his D3 to the rest of the group.  
"You're a Digidestined too!!" Tai said, very surprised.  
"So, you're one of the original five?" Izzy asked.  
"Yup."  
"Hold on a second, if you're on of the original five; does that mean Ken's older brother Sam was one as well?" T.K. asked  
Alex nodded his head, "Correct. Sam, Myself, my best friend Marcus, his girlfriend Jen, and my girlfriend Lauren, were the original five."  
"So, what did you mean about us cleaning up your mistakes?" Matt asked.  
"You guys took out Apocalymon didn't you?"  
"Well, yeah."  
"Had my team been able to do its job, you guys wouldn't have had to worry about him."  
"What happened when you guys fought Apocalymon?" Tai asked  
Alex walked over to a near by picnic table and sat down, the Digidestined all moved to form a semi-circle around him.  
"Well, here's how I remember it..."

Five colored streams of light, Green, Red, Pink, Blue, and Yellow, rained down out of the sky over the Angic desert, as each stream hit the ground a human and their partner digimon materialized.  
From the green light, a young man named Alex appeared. He stood around 5' 5" with a lean build and shoulder length sandy blond hair. His partner digimon, Pseudodramon; a brownish colored 2' tall western style dragon with a scorpion stinger on his tail, hovered beside him.  
From the red light, another young man, Marcus, came into view. He stood slightly taller than Alex at 5' 7" with a muscular build and short brown hair. His partner, Creepmon; a deep crimson colored 2' 4" goblin like digimon, was standing next to him.  
From the Pink light, a young lady named Lauren materialized. She stood a fair 5' 4" with a light build and blond hair that came to her shoulder blades. Her partner, Cubmon; a light blue wolf cub, was seated next to her.  
From the Blue light, another young lady named Jen appeared. She stood 5'5" with a athletic build and shoulder length auburn colored hair. Her partner, Penguinmon; a 2' 6" tall penguin looking digimon, was standing next to her.  
From the Yellow light, a young man named Sam appeared. He stood 4' 11" with a light build and short spiky blue hair. His partner, Wormmon, stood next to him.  
All of them were dressed very similarly: Jeans, t-shirt, an untucked and unbuttoned denim shirt, steel toed ankle high boots, and Oakley M-Frame sunglasses... all in black.  
Alex and Lauren's hair were pulled back into ponytails while Jen's was braided into a single long braid.  
The only hint of color in their outfits was found on the left pocket of their denim shirts where their individual crest symbols were embroidered:  
Alex's crest, the Star, a gray 8-pointed star with a dark teal Z in the middle.  
Marcus' crest, the Diamond, a gray 4-pointed diamond with a red omega symbol in the middle.  
Lauren's crest, the Heart, a gray heart with a pink pair of angel wings in the middle.  
Jen's crest, the Moon, a gray crescent moon outlined in blue.  
Sam's crest, the Sun, a gray circle with a yellow flame in the middle.  
The group quickly surveyed the area to make sure there were no unfriendly digimon around.  
"Sam, how far is the portal to the Negative Plane from here?" asked Lauren.  
"It's about fifteen kilometers northeast from here." Sam replied.  
"There weren't any closer login points?" Jen asked.  
"There were, but they were a bit too close to the portal. The odds of us getting attacked right after login were too high." Marcus said.  
"Besides, it's not like we can't cover fifteen kilometers quickly, especially with our digimon." Lauren added.  
Alex reached into his right back pocket and pulled out a device that looked rather similar to a Palm Pilot called a D-pad. Alex pressed on of the buttons on the D-pad and the display projected a topographical map of the area around them. He turned to face the rest of the group, "Ok guys, this is the money run. Everything we've been working towards for the last few months comes down to this. We've got one objective this time out, close and seal the portal between the Digital World and the Negative Plane. Needless to say, this isn't going to be easy. As you can see on the map, even getting there is going to be a lot of work since the portal is located in the bottom of a deep valley."  
"How heavily guarded do you think the portal will be?" Lauren asked.  
"It's a pretty safe bet that we're going to end up in a large battle once we get there, I wouldn't be surprised if we end up in two or three engagements on the way over."  
"We don't have any intel on this area?" Jen asked.  
"Something with the energy being put out by the portal interferes with the soloton radar satellites' ability to scan anywhere within twenty kilometers of the portal." Sam answered.  
"Cute." Jen said sarcastically  
"Any other questions?" Alex asked, everyone shook their heads; Alex then hit a button on his D-pad, which caused the map to vanish, and pocketed it, "Alright Sentinels, let's get going."  
Each of team members grabbed their D3s from their belt and turned to face their partners.  
"Pseudodramon digivolve to..."  
Pseudodramon grew so until he now 7' from his snout to the tip of the stinger in his tail, his wigs grew to 8' 6" from wing tip to wing tip, his wings we also moved from being anchored on his back to being anchored to shoulder joints and his upper arms were now connected to his wings...  
"...WyverDramon!"  
"Creepmon digivolve to..."  
Creepmon grew so that he now stood just over 6'. Dark brown splotches appeared all over his crimson skin as if it had rotted and his fingernails grew into sharp claws...  
"...Cryptmon!"  
"Cubmon digivolve to..."  
Cubmon grew into a large wolf that stood 5' 7" at the shoulder, with white fur on her two front paws and tail tip...  
"...Lupinmon!"  
"Penguinmon digivolve to..."  
Penguinmon transformed into a giant birdlike creature that looked exactly like Birdramon except for one detail, she was colored black...  
"...Sabirdramon!"  
"Wormmon digivolve to... Stingmon!"  
Alex hopped up on WyverDramon's back, Marcus joined Jen on Sabirdramon, and Sam hopped up on Lupinmon's back along with Lauren.  
WyverDramon, Sabirdramon, and Stingmon then took to the sky with WyverDramon taking the lead, while Lupinmon and Cryptmon kept pace with the airborne trio from the ground.  
All the members of the team kept a watchful eye around them, looking for any sign of possible attackers.  
They came within half of a kilometer of the valley when WyverDramon stopped and landed. Alex dismounted from WyverDramon and waited for the rest of the Sentinels to arrive.  
"What's wrong Alex?" Lauren asked as she dismounted from Lupinmon.  
"Something about this doesn't feel right. This place should be just swarming with creatures from the Negative Plane." Alex responded.  
"You think it's a trap?" Sam asked.  
"I'd be willing to bet it is, but it's not like we can just turn around and forget about doing this either."  
"Damned if we do and damned if we don't, huh?" Marcus commented.  
"Pretty much." Alex replied as he pulled out his D-pad and displayed the map of the area. "Ok, Lauren, Jen and Sam. I'd like you and the digimon to proceed toward the portal." Alex pointed to a dune one hundred meters to the east of their current position, "Marcus, I'd like you to take up position here" Alex then pointed to another dune one hundred meters to the west, "and I'll take up position here. We'll provide long rage cover as needed until the main team has reached the portal. Once the main team has arrived and secured the area, WyverDramon will circle back and pick us up. Lauren, you'll be in charge until we link back up. Any questions?" Everyone shook their heads. "Excellent, let's get moving then."  
Alex hit a button on his D-Pad and the map disappeared. He then sifted through a few menus on his D-Pad, pointed the top it toward the ground, and pressed another button. A beam of light shot out from what looked like the Infra-red port on the top of the D-pad. The light drew a 3D wire frame of a rifle. Once the wire frame was completed, the light ceased and a Styer Scout rifle slowly faded into existence over the wire frame.  
Marcus produced a D-pad from his back pocked and synthesized a Scout rifle of his own.  
The Sentinel snipers then retrieved their rifles from the ground and slung them over their shoulders.  
Alex, Lauren, Jen, Sam, and Marcus then reached into their left front pockets and pulled out a small device which they slipped into their ears. They then looked at each other, nodded and ran off in their assigned directions.

Alex pulled out his D-pad and checked to see how close he was to being in position.  
Suddenly realizing how hot it was, he pulled off his denim shirt and tied it around his waist.  
As Alex reached the top of the dune he was climbing, the micro-transceiver in his ear chirped to life with Marcus' voice, "This is Diamond, I'm in position."  
Alex reached up and tapped the transmit button on the transceiver, "This is Star, I'm in position. Hey Diamond, I made a change to our rifles since we used them last."  
"What'd ya do?"  
"Remember how we both said we wished they had a little less kick? Well, I rechambered the rifles to use .243 instead of .308 while they were in the computer. That should cut down on the recoil."  
"Sweet. Thanks."

Lauren's voice rang to live on the transceiver, "This is Heart, either of you two hot shots able to see anything in our way from up there?"  
Alex took a moment to visually scan the desert ahead of him before replying, "Looks good on my end."  
"Heart, this is Diamond. Hold your position. You guys are headed right into a buried patrol of Dark Terrormon."  
Alex untied his shirt from his waist and laid it on the sand, and laid down in a prone shooting position on top of the shirt, "Diamond, this is Star. Can I get some targeting data??"  
"Star, they're approximately a hundred and twenty-five meters north of Heart's team. You can spot them the usual way."  
Alex moved his sunglasses on to the top of his head and began looking through the scope on his rifle. He located Lauren and the rest of her team; they were ducked down behind a small dune, waiting for the ok to move. Alex slowly began moving his aim farther north, scanning for his targets. A few moments later he spotted what looked like a small black reed protruding two inches out of the sand; this was what he had been looking for. The small reed was actually a breathing tube that extended from the back of a Dark Terrormon.  
"I count two Star, how about you?"  
Alex made a quick scan of the area around the first tube and only spotted one other tube about a meter farther north of the first, "Confirmed, two targets. I'll take the Southern target."  
"Roger, I'm on the Northern target"  
Alex quickly sighted back in on the first tube he had spotted, and then made some minor adjustments to his scope's zoom settings so he had a closer view of the target. He then took a deep breath and allowed himself to relax as he focused on holding the rifle absolutely still, "This is Star, I'm ready"  
"Diamond here, I'm ready. Ready for the count Heart."  
"Alright guys, fire on my count. 3...2..."  
Sam's voice broke on to the channel, interrupting Lauren's count down, "Diamond, Star, this is Sun. Don't fire."  
Alex took his eye away from his scope, "Star here, what's the deal Sun? Diamond and I have made shots like this before."  
"Right, but remember earlier you mentioned you rechambered your rifles to use .243?"  
"Yeah, and?"  
"Well, I did some quick number crunching, the lighter .243 round your using now isn't going to have enough force to get through the sand and hit a Dark Terrormon."  
"Crud. Ok, anyone have any ideas?"  
"Star this is Heart, Lupinmon and I are going in to draw them out. You and Diamond get ready to fire as soon as your target pops out of the sand."  
Alex didn't like the sound of that plan, but he had put Lauren in charge, "Affirmative.", he then made another adjustment to his scope settings, reducing the magnification on his scope. It would make the shot a bit tougher, but it would help him to better anticipate when he would have to shoot. Again looking though his scope, he began taking long, deep controlled breaths. His scope didn't move at all as he focused on holding the rifle perfectly still and watched for his target to pop out of the sand.  
"This is Heart. Get ready boys, I'm almost on top of them."  
Seconds after hearing Lauren's voice, the sand around the tube Alex was watching erupted upward revealing a Dark Terrormon. Quickly adjusting his aim to the creatures head, Alex took in one last deep breath and let it out quickly. As his finished the exhale, Alex gently squeezed the trigger of his rifle.  
A second later, as Alex was working the bolt action of his rifle to load another round, he heard a second rifle report.  
Alex looked through his scope at where his target previously was, all that remained was a cloud of quickly dispersing black particles.  
"Nice shooting boys, you got 'em both."  
"Heart, this is Moon. Sun, the Digimon, and I are on our way."  
Alex again lowered the magnification on his scope and did a slow scan over the rest of the teams' path, "This is Star, your path to the target looks clear Heart."  
"Diamond here, I concur, no hostiles spotted."  
Alex took his eyes away from his scope and kept looking for any signs of moving patrols.  
A few moments later Lauren's voice again echoed though the micro-transceiver, "This is Heart, we reach the target. You're not going to believe this, but there's no one home. Just the portal. WyverDramon is on his way to pick you up Star."  
Alex felt his stomach sink; this felt really wrong to him, "Copy that Heart, ready for retrieval."  
Alex lowered his sunglasses back over his eyes, stood up, picked his denim shirt up from the sand and shook it out, then tied the shirt around his waist and shouldered his rifle. WyverDramon arrived a few minutes later. Alex greeted his digimon partner with a quick hug around the neck, and then hopped up on his back and took off.  
After a short flight, they retrieved Marcus and rejoined the rest of the Sentinels.

The valley where the Dark Portal resided looked like the impact crater of a meteorite. It was a perfect circle about 5 kilometers in diameter and approximately two hundred feet deep. The Sentinels stood at the lip of the near vertical cliff.  
"Well, how the heck are we gonna get all of us down there?" Marcus enquired.  
"That's a very good question my friend." Alex replied as he rubbed his chin, deep in thought.  
Jen snapped her fingers, "I've got it! Have Lupinmon and Cryptmon de-evolve to Cubmon and Creepmon, then WyverDramon can carry Alex, Lauren, and Cubmon down; Sabirdramon can carry Marcus, Creepmon, and myself; and Stingmon can take Sam."  
Alex looked over at her, "Great idea Jen. Let's get to it." The team followed Jen's plan and descended into the valley.  
After another two and a half kilometer run, the Sentinels had finally reached their objective, the Dark Portal.  
The portal itself was an arch of gray stones that stood thirty-five feet tall and fifteen feet wide. Inside the arch was a swirling vortex of various shades of blue and purple.  
Alex looked around nervously, "Ok, let's level up the digimon just in case we get jumped while we're sealing the portal."  
Sam chimed in, "We can only digivolve them to Ultimate, though Alex; if we go all the way to Mega our crystals won't have enough power to seal the portal."  
Alex looked at each of the digimon, "You guys ok with that?"  
"It's ok Alex, the important thing is that you and others get the portal sealed." said WyverDramon.  
A colored light projected from each of the Sentinels D3's into their right hand. The light formed into a colored crystal. All the crystals were shaped like a 4-pointed star with the two points on the side angled down at 45 degree angles.  
Each of the Sentinels turned to face their partner digimon, while the crystals began glowing the color of their crest symbols.  
"WyverDramon digivolve to..."  
WyverDramon grew so that he was now twenty feet from snout to tail. The stinger on the end of his tail disappeared as his tail lengthened. His wings moved so that they were now anchored on his back instead of his shoulders, and his front arms we no longer attached to his wings.  
"...WyrmDramon!!!"  
"Creepmon digivolve to... Cryptmon... digivolve to..."  
Cryptmon's skin and flesh melted away until only the skeleton remained, adorned in black robes with red and gold trim covered in various runes and mystical symbols.  
"... Lichmon!!!"  
"Cubmon digivolve to... Lupinmon... digivolve to..."  
Lupinmon's right front leg, left rear leg, and the bottom half of her tail were all changed into cyber-limbs. Also, Lupinmon's nose, upper jaw, face, and eyes became cybernetic.  
"... Cyber Lupinmon!!!"  
"Sabirdramon digivolve to..."  
Sabirdramon's form turned a little more human, much like Garudamon; however her head and body looked like that of a giant Raven.  
"... Ravenmon!!!"  
"Stingmon digivolve to..."  
Stingmon grew a little taller, while his muscle mass increased to three times that of Stingmon. The added muscle mass caused the new digimon to hunch over slightly. He also sprouted another set of dragonfly like wings.  
"... Dino Beemon!!!"  
The five Ultimate level digimon took up defensive positions around their partners, while the five Sentinels formed a circle around the Dark Portal, crystals still in hand.  
"Ok, let's seal this thing up tighter than Fort Knox Sentinels!" Alex said.  
As each of the Sentinels raised their crystal above their head, four beams of light lanced out from each crystal, connecting it to the other four Sentinels crystals. Once all the streams of light had connected forming a star within a pentagon around the Dark Portal, the streams intensified in brightness.  
The five all watched in astonishment and the swirling vortex began to shrink, slow but surely.  
Suddenly, the sun went out. Using his free hand, Alex removed his sunglasses and looked toward the sky to see what was wrong. His jaw hung open in awe of the sight above him.  
Above the valley, floated what appeared to be a giant, black dodecahedron.  
"What the hell?!?" Alex exclaimed.  
"What is that??" Sam enquired  
"This doesn't look good." Marcus said  
"I don't like the looks of this." Lauren said  
"Umm, can we go home now?" Jen asked  
A voice boomed down on the Sentinels and their digimon, "I've let my bungling minions deal with you bothersome pests long enough. I, Apocalymon, will now put an end to you personally!"  
The center of each of the object's twelve sides rose up slightly and then opened. From each of the openings a four-pointed claw emerged and hung in the air, connected to the black object by a double-helix chain.  
"Now you die, you miserable sentinels of the Digital World!!" the voice screamed angrily.

Don't ya just love cliffhangers?? I know I do, so that's why I'm leaving you with one. To find out how the battle between Apocalymon and the Sentinels turned out, and meet the last of my new characters, you'll just have to wait to read Chapter 4 of Winds of Change entitled "The Spear of Destiny."


	4. Chapter 4: The Spear of Destiny

Chapter 4: The Spear of Destiny

Five of the claws snaked to life and rushed at the members of the Sentinel team. The Sentinels' digimon responded in turn by knocking the claw headed for their partner off course, causing the claws to slam into the ground away from their intended targets. As the first set of claws landed, a second set of five snaked to life and attacked, and again the Sentinel's digimon were able to knock the claws clear of their partners. As the second set landed, the first set recovered from their failed attack and struck again.  
The process of attack and deflection repeated itself while the Sentinels held their positions, their faith in their partners' ability to defend them unwavering, while they used the power of their crystals to seal the portal between the Digital World and the Negative Plane.  
Ten minutes after Apocalymon began his onslaught, the tide of the battle began to shift; the Sentinel digimon were beginning to get winded and the attacks were getting closer to hitting their mark with every pass.  
"Alex… we… can't keep… this pace up… for much longer." WyrmDramon called to his partner.  
"Almost done buddy, we just need another two minutes." Alex shouted back to his airborne digimon.  
WyrmDramon used his forearms to swat a claw off course, "Well, we don't have two minutes left in us."  
"Frell!! Ok guys, we'll have to finish this up after we take care of this overgrown Rubik's cube."  
The Sentinels lowered their arms with their crystals then quickly scattered to different positions, turning to face their partners. An energy stream lanced out from each of the Sentinel's D3's to their crystals, and the continued on to their partners.  
"WyrmDramon Mega-Digivolve to…"  
WyrmDramon grew to thirty-five feet from snout to tail, sprouted another wings just behind his first pair, and grew two great horns from the top of his head.  
"… Great WyrmDramon!!!"  
"Lichmon Mega-Digivolve to…"  
Lichmon underwent a major transformation as he grew into a skeletal version of Great WyrmDramon.  
"… NecroDramon!!!"  
"Cyber Lupinmon Mega-Digivolve to…"  
The rest Cyber Lupinmon's body became cybernetic. On the new digimon's right torso was mounted a cannon style weapon.  
"… Alpha Lupinmon!!!"  
"Ravenmon Mega-Digivolve to…"  
Ravenmon lost it's humanoid shape as transformed into what appeared to be a gigantic raven.  
"… Rocmon!!!"  
"Dino Beemon Mega-Digivolve to…"  
Dino Beemon's body turned into a hard, black, insectoid style exoskeleton as his body took the shape of a rather large, fearsome looking Stag Beetle.  
"… Gran Kuwagamon!!!"  
As Rocmon completed her transformation, she caught one of the double-helix chains in her beak. Taking a couple of seconds to gather her strength, she bit down hard on the chain, snapping it. The loose end disintegrated immediately, while the part that was still attached to Apocalymon quickly reeled itself back into the opening that it had spawned from.  
"Nice job Rocmon!!" Jen shouted up to her partner.  
Suddenly, another claw emerged from the opening that the damaged one had disappeared into seconds earlier.  
"Oh gimme a bloody break!" Jen screamed in disgust.  
Apocalymon picked up the pace of his attacks and began attacking the Sentinel digimon as well as the Sentinels themselves. The digimon spent the next several minutes going from chain to chain, ripping them apart; and every time a chain was broken it retracted and regenerated.  
"This isn't working." Alex said to himself, "Ack, son of a…" Alex quickly rolled out of the way of one of Apocalymon's claws. As he came to his feet Alex shouted, "Guys, ignore the claws and chains! Attack Apocalymon directly!"  
The digimon disengaged from their current attacks and turned to face their attention on the floating dodecahedron. Alpha Lupinmon was the first to get into position, "ALPHA CANNON!", a gigantic ball of energy was propelled from his cannon and arced its way to its intended target. The energy ball impacted against the giant dodecahedron but had little effect.  
Great WyrmDramon avoided one of Apocalymon's claws as he came to a quick halt and hovered just long enough to unleash his breath weapon, "MEGA FLARE!" The fiery comet spewed by the great dragon had as little effect as the previous attack..  
NecroDramon pulled a similar aerial maneuver as Great WyrmDramon and was able to attack with his breath weapon, "DEAD BREATH!" The ghostly skull impacted against its intended target, and also failed to have any noticeable effect. Rocmon made the next attempt by attempting to dig her claws into the floating mass, "RAZOR TALON!", Despite her best efforts, her claws would not penetrate the Apocalymon's armor.  
Gran Kuwagamon finally made his attack, "DIMENSION SCISSORS!", the blades of energy ripped through the air and but the dodecahedron remained unscathed.  
"Guys, try fielding your fire! Everyone attack the same spot at the same time!" Sam shouted to all the digimon.  
Following his suggestion, the Sentinel digimon made a unified strike at Apocalymon.. but to no avail.  
Alex whistled, causing Great WyrmDramon to break from his attack and make a high speed pass by Alex. As his partner flew past him, Alex was scooped up into Great WyrmDramon's right hand.  
"Star, where are you going!?!?!" Jen screamed into her micro-transceiver.  
"I've got a theory, but I need a wide angle to see if I'm right. Hold tight." Alex replied. "Great WyrmDramon, drop me on top of the crater ledge straight ahead."  
"You got it, boss." Great WyrmDramon flew to the crater's edge and set Alex down.  
Alex unshouldered his Scout rifle and dropped into a prone shooting position. From his position, he could clearly see the top of the dodecahedron. Alex quickly adjusted the zoom on his rifle scope. As he peered through his scope, a big grin appeared across his face and he quickly tapped his micro-transceiver, "Looks like I was right guys. All we've been attacking is a tank of some kind. I've got a clear shot on Apocalymon and I don't think he sees me."  
"What are you waiting for Star? Take him out!" Lauren replied.  
"Gimme a second. I have to switch rifles, my Scout doesn't have the range. It's a two and a half kilometer shot."  
Alex threw a Scout rifle aside and pulled his D-pad from his back pocket and used it to synthesize a Barrett M82A1. Alex quickly unfolded the bi-pod on the large rifle and tilted into a shooting position. Taking a moment to adjust his scope and aim the shot properly, Alex began controlling his breathing.  
Lauren's voice rang in on Alex's micro-transceiver "Star hurry, things are getting really…..*Scream*"  
Alex went wide eyed and quickly tapped his micro-transceiver into transmit mode "Heart…. Heart…. Heart this is Star, respond….. LAUREN!!!"  
"Star this is Sun… Heart and Alpha Lupinmon just got hit. Heart looks like she's in bad shape"  
"What about Alpha Lupinmon?"  
"She broke up just after being hit.. she's gone."  
Marcus broke in on the com, "Alex, wake up and take this bastard out!"  
Alex quickly shook out of his daze and went back to setting up his shot. He watched as the tall figure clad head to toe in black leather stood atop his floating 'tank', laughing at the demise of Alpha Lupinmon and his girlfriend.  
Alex took in one last deep breath, exhaled quickly, and then squeezed the trigger of his rifle. Alex watched as Apocalymon jolted suddenly as the .50 caliber bullet ripped a hole the size of a quarter though his chest. Apocalymon looked down at the gaping wound in disbelief, and collapsed. The floating dodecahedron ceased its assault, all its claws hung limp and lifeless at the end of their chains. Alex stood up, feeling as if his right shoulder had just been torn off by the vicious recoil of the high caliber rifle. Not waiting for his command, Great WyrmDramon quickly scooped up Alex and began flying back toward the rest of the group.  
The other three Sentinels and their Digimon had gathered around Lauren by the time Alex and Great WyrmDramon arrived. Great WyrmDramon set down Alex, who immediately began running toward Lauren. As he was running, three of dodecahedron's claws lurched to life to strike one last time. The Sentinels were caught completely off guard.  
Everyone in the group was at least winged as the claws made the last strike, though Jen, Rocmon, and Gran Kuwagamon caught the full force of the attacks. After they struck, the claws and the dodecahedron all disintegrated and Apocalymon's body fell, hitting the ground with a sickening thud.  
As Alex came to, he quickly looked around. He spotted Marcus, Creepmon, Sam, Jen, and Pseudodramon. They were all unconscious and Marcus, Sam, and Jen looked to be in pretty bad shape. The only signs of Rocmon and Gran Kuwagamon were quickly dispersing particles of data. Alex tried to pull himself up, but his right arm and leg wouldn't respond. His right shoulder appeared to be dislocated; and he suspected he spotted several breaks in his arm and leg as well.  
A movement in the corner of his eye caught Alex's attention. He turned his head to look: to his horror, Apocalymon slowly pull himself upright and began lurching his way toward the helpless Sentinels.  
As Apocalymon neared, Alex did the only thing he could do…pray. As if in response to his prayer, Alex could hear a loud shrieking noise, as if something was falling toward him very quickly. Alex looked up just in time to see an odd shaped spear drive itself in the ground in front of him. The spear appeared to be two long metal rods, wound around one another like a pair of snakes; at the midpoint of the spear's length, the two rods stopped winding around one another and turned into straight single edged, triangular shaped blade, giving the spear the look of a large tuning fork. Nearby, Pseudodramon began to stir to consciousness.  
'A chance…. we've got… one chance.' Alex told himself. Alex reached around to his back pocket and pulled out his D-pad. He pressed a button on his main display pulling an egg shaped object up on the screen. Tapping another button, a beam of light arced its way to Alex's D3, then to Pseudodramon.  
"Pseudodramon Armor Digivolve to…"  
Pseudodramon's figure became humanoid, loosing its wings and tail. The now seven foot tall brown lizard was clad in green armor similar to Flamedramon's, except that his gauntlets didn't cover his hands.  
"…Dragoonmon!!!"  
Dragoonmon slowly walked over to and retrieved the mysterious spear from the ground. Apocalymon stopped in his tracks and got a very panicked look on his face. At the same time, a very evil grin crossed Alex's face as he shouted at Apocalymon, "Go back to the hell that spawned you!"  
Using his remaining strength, Dragoonmon lifted the eight and a half foot spear and threw it straight at Apocalymon, then collapsed and de-evolved back to Pseudodramon.  
The spear found its mark, its twin points impaling themselves into Apocalymon's torso. The force of the impact pushed Apocalymon back into one of the sides of the Dark Portal's stone arch. His body was completely limp, the only thing that was holding him up was spear that had completely impaled him and imbedded itself in the stone arch.  
Alex waited a few tense moments to see if Apocalymon would disintegrate, but he didn't; instead, Apocalymon came back to life and slowly began pulling the spear from his chest. Using his good arm, Alex immediately reached out to his nearby digimon partner, who was once again unconscious, and tried to wake him up.  
Having freed himself, Apocalymon fell to his knees and looked at the three gaping wounds in his chest, all oozing a black substance that Alex could only figure was Apocalymon's equivalent to blood. Apocalymon looked up at Alex, "This… this isn't… over Sentinel.". With that, Apocalymon used his remaining strength to crawl through what remained of the Dark Portal.

Alex struggled to continue as, the Digidestined sat in suspenseful silence.  
After a few tense moments, Izzy spoke up, "What happened next Alex? I mean, If you don't want to continue, it's okay, we understand, but..."  
Alex drew in a deep breath, "No, no, it's alright. After Apocalymon slithered back through the portal; I crawled over to Lauren, and kinda pulled her into my lap using my left arm. I was surprised as hell when she opened her eyes. She didn't say anything… she didn't need to. I could see it all in her eyes. The fear, the pain, the sorrow, and the love. I ran my hand through her hair, and then I leaned down to kiss her. I think…. I think she used what little life she had left in her to kiss me back. As I kissed her… I, uh …. I felt her go limp in my arms and her breathing stop." Alex stopped talking as a single tear escaped his right eye and rolled down his cheek. He closed his eyes, "After that, I really don't remember much because I passed out. My memory kicks back in about twelve hours later when I woke up in a recovery tank back at Sentinel HQ. The whole time I was floating in that tank, I was praying that the whole thing had just been some sort of nightmare, and that Lauren was going to be there to greet me when I got out."  
"So, Alex, how'd you end up back at your Headquarters? I mean, who got you in there?" Cody asked.  
"Well, while we didn't completely close the Dark Portal, we closed it enough so that it no longer interfered with the soloton radar system; Gennai was able to 'Gate' us back to Sentinel HQ."  
"Did you ever go back and finish closing the portal?" Tai asked.  
"Well, yes and no. Without Jen and Lauren's crystals we didn't have enough power to finish closing the portal. The best we could do was put a seal over it, with a little help from Azulongmon."  
"What's the difference?" Kari asked  
"Let's see if I can explain this… Ok, the Dark Portal is a tear in the dimensional space/time between the Digital World and Negative Plane. With the five crystals, we were actually repairing the tear, closing it permanently; had we succeeded, no one would have ever been able to travel between the Digital World and Negative Plane again. When we sealed it, all we did was put up a barrier that prevented anyone from using the portal, but the portal is still there. If someone broke the seal, they would be able to use the portal and travel between the Digital World and Negative Plane. That make any sense?"  
"Yeah, it makes perfect sense Alex." Kari replied with a smile.  
Sora looked at her watch, "Oh wow, it's 7:00. I've got to get home."  
"I think that goes for most of us." Tai responded.  
"Hey Alex, some of us are planning on heading to the Digital World tomorrow afternoon, would you care to join us?" T.K. asked.  
"I'd love to. I have a few matters to attend to there anyway. Once I get things taken care of, I'd be glad to join ya."  
"Great, see ya then!"  
The rest of the Digidestined said their good-byes to one another and went their separate ways home, except for Joe who waited behind.  
"Hey Alex, I just have a question for you, if you don't mind."  
"No, what's up?"  
"Can you tell me more about the recovery tanks?" Joe asked.  
"Yeah, it's a neat little piece of technology. Basically the injured party is floated in a tank full of various nutrients and chemicals that stimulate the body's natural regenerative system."  
"How effective is it?"  
"Well, a little less than twenty-four hours after having my right ulna, right radius, right femur, and three ribs broken, along with a punctured lung and dislocated shoulder; I was taking a warm shower to wash off the recovery fluid. No physical aches or pains of any sort."  
"That's amazing."  
"Why do you ask?"  
"No reason in particular, I'm just studying to be a doctor and you peaked my interest. Any chance I might be able to get a look at one?"  
"I'll see what I can do. Cleric is kinda touchy about people poking around in her Medlab."  
"Cleric?"  
"Yeah, she's the Sentinel's medic. She's a medical student and Luther Collage, she was more than happy to get out of the field and fix up everyone's bumps and bruises."  
"Alright, thanks Alex." Joe then turned and departed.  
Alex looked over at Ken, "So, what'd ya have in mind for dinner?"  
"Well, I hate to say it, but I have a huge craving for pizza right now. But you're probably thinking of something a little more Japanese right?"  
Alex gave Ken a funny look, "Ken. Above all else, I'm a computer geek. I am ready, willing, and able to eat pizza anytime, anywhere."  
"Great, I know this awesome pizza and arcade that's not far from here."  
"Lead on."

Alex and Ken arrived at the arcade/pizzeria after a short walk. After placing their order and getting their drinks, they found a booth in a relatively quite part of the dining area.  
"So Kenny, about you and Yolei. What's the story?"  
Ken cursed inwardly; he had hoped that Alex would have forgotten. Ken stared at his soda, stirring it slowly with his straw; "There's not much to tell Alex. I mean, I like her and all, but with how things are, I have a hard time envisioning her wanting to be my friend, let alone my girlfriend."  
"What makes you say that?"  
"Well, there was there was that whole Digimon Emperor episode."  
"So?" Alex took a sip of his soda, "That's all behind you now. You're a different person now than you were then."  
"Yeah, but that doesn't change the horrible things I did. I mean, do you have any idea some of the things I did?"  
"Ken, I know about everything you did when you were the Digimon Emperor. We had to keep a close eye on you to see if our suspicions were correct."  
"Wait a sec.. who's this we? And what suspicions?"  
"By we, I mean the Sentinels."  
"You and Marcus?"  
"Oh no. What started with my group has grown to something much more. The Sentinels are an organization of a select group of 'The Chosen' that safeguard the Digital World from outside threats."  
"And by 'The Chosen' you are referring to who?"  
"Anyone with any kind of Digivice and Digimon partner."  
"So, the Sentinels are like the Digidestined?"  
"Kind of. The Digidestined, you know, are charged with safeguarding the Digital World. However, all the threats you guys handle are internal, problems that started in the Digital World to begin with. The Sentinels guard against external threats, such as invasion from the Negative Plane or any other world…even our world, the 'Real World'."  
"Then why were you and the Sentinels watching me?"  
"Because, Kenny boy, you were a huge 'Grey Area'. Being one of 'The Chosen', you were technically an internal issue; however, we suspected that there may have been external forces guiding you along you path of destruction. Turned out, we were right. You were being influenced by something or someone else. We never quite got a fix on who, why, or how they were influencing you; however, we are certain that it was coming from the Negative Plane."  
Ken sat back in his seat, the full effect of what Alex had just told his was beginning to set in, "So you mean the whole time…"  
"You were under someone else's control. It wasn't you at all. Which is all the more reason why you should put it behind you and move on."  
"But what if whoever was controlling me does it again?"  
"They won't."  
"What makes you so certain?"  
"Because the reason the Digidestined defeated you was that whoever or whatever was controlling you pulled their power back and stopped supporting you. Whether it was because we were getting close to tracking them down or because you had outlived your usefulness to them we don't know. The point is they gave up control of you willingly. Look Ken, you're a good person; I know it, your friends know it, and most importantly, Yolei knows it. She really cares about you a lot."  
"How can you be so certain of that?"  
"Lots of things. Her body language when she's around you, they way she looks at you, and also my gut tells me so."  
"Your gut?"  
"Yeah, my gut. You know, like a sixth sense. Everyone has it, most just choose to ignore it. I don't, and its never steered me wrong yet."  
"You really think she likes me?"  
"Not a doubt in my mind. I'm serious Ken, if you care about her as much as I think you do, ask her out."  
A woman's voice rang in over the loud speaker, "Order for Zero. Zero, you're order is ready."  
Alex slid out of the booth, "I'll go get our food." Alex turned and began walking away.  
Ken's jaw almost hit the table as a sudden realization crossed his mind, "Wait a second. Zero, as in the same Zero that rescued us a few days ago in the Digital World?"  
Alex stopped, and the looked back over his right shoulder at Ken and smiled, "I told you I wouldn't be far off if you guys got into trouble again." Alex then continued walking.

Davis was still moping in his room. Though he had finally managed to stop crying for the time being, there was still a throbbing ache in his chest that wouldn't cease. Davis' mind was erratically jumping from thoughts of Kari, to how he could win her from T.K., to how best to take revenge on T.K. for stealing his girl from him. The sound of a knock on his door brought Davis back to reality.  
"Davis, it's Tai."  
Davis thought about telling him to buzz off, but instead decided against it, "What do you want Tai?"  
"I came to see if you're ok. Can I come in?"  
Davis walked over and unlocked the door, leaving Tai to open it for himself.  
Tai couldn't help but feel sorry for Davis; he looked like he'd been through hell and back, "God, you look like hell. Wanna talk about it?"  
Davis gestured for Tai to enter. Once inside, Tai closed the door behind him, "How could she choose him over me? I mean, what does he have that I don't?"  
Tai placed a reassuring hand oh Davis' shoulder, "Look, I don't know what to tell you Davis. I know it hurts a lot.."  
Davis shrugged Tai's hand off his shoulder angrily, "Oh what do you know about it! How could you possibly know what I'm going through!?"  
"Because I'm going through it right now too! That's how."  
Davis looked at Tai in disbelief, "What are you talking about?"  
"Sora."  
The admission made Davis loose his train of thought for a moment, "Wait a sec, you mean that you…"  
Tai seated himself in the chair at Davis' computer desk, "Yes."  
Davis seated himself on his bed, "How do you deal with the pain? How do you deal with seeing her and Matt together? Hell, do they even know how you feel?"  
Tai closed his eyes and shook his head, "No. They are my two best friends in the world, and neither of them have a clue. Which is good."  
"Why?"  
Tai let out a deep sigh and opened his eyes, "Because I don't want it to get in the way of our friendships. Sora is with who she wants to be with, and that makes her happy; and all I care about is her being happy. That's how I'm able to deal with the pain."  
"Even though it's killing you inside?"  
"Yes."  
Davis shook his head, "I don't think I can do that. I need to win her back Tai. I need you're help."  
It was Tai's turn to look at Davis in disbelief, "Have you listened to a word I've just said?"  
"Yes, but I know that I can maker her happier than T.K. can."  
Tai cocked his head slightly to the right, "What makes you so certain of that?"  
"I just am." Davis looked at Tai pleadingly, "I need you're help Tai. You're her big brother, you can tell me things. Give me insights to help me win her over."  
Tai held both his hand up, "Whoa there. Look, Davis, I'm willing to help you deal with the pain as best I can; but I'm not going to help you interfere with Kari's relationship with T.K. She's made her choice and I respect that."  
"Even if you don't agree with who she chooses?"  
"Yes."  
"So you don't agree with her choosing T.K. over me then."  
"I didn't say that."  
"Then you DO agree with her choice?!?"  
"I didn't say that either Davis. You're starting to put words in my mouth."  
"Look you either agree with her choice or you don't, so which is it?"  
"Davis, look it's not like that…"  
"You're either with me or against me on this Tai. So which is it, are you going to help me win Kari back or not?"  
Tai hung his head in defeat, "Davis.. I can't."  
Davis threw a pillow against the wall in frustration, "Fine. Get out! Some friend you turned out to be."  
"Davis, you're overreacting…."  
"I SAID GET OUT!!"  
Tai froze for a moment, he had never seen Davis like this. He was afraid. Afraid of the choices that Davis was making now, but he had no choice, "Alright, I'm going, but if you change your mind…."  
"I won't"  
"Fine."  
Tai slowly turned and left Davis' room. After Tai had gone, Davis slumped down in the chair by his computer desk, his mind fixated on one thing now; how to win Kari Kamiya's heart.

Alex returned with a large pizza and a couple of plates He placed the pizza in the middle of the table and handed Ken a plate, he then sat down and grabbed a slice of the pizza. He was about to take a bite of it when Ken spoke up, "Ok, you have some explaining to do."  
"Oh?"  
"Why didn't you tell me?"  
"Tell you what?"  
"That you were Zero."  
"Was it really that important that I did tell you?"  
Ken thought for a minute about Alex's question, "Well, I guess not. I guess I'm just surprised, that's all."  
"Surprised at what?"  
"Well you, and all the amazing things that you did in the Digital World with that armor of yours."  
"That wasn't just armor."  
"Oh? What was it then?"  
Alex took a bite of his pizza, "Well, that was one of my partners forms.", he explained through a mouth full of cheese.  
"One of your Digimon's forms is a suit of armor? Which level?"  
"Tekno."  
"Tekno? Never heard of it."  
"Not the least bit surprised. The Tekno form is kind of like an Armor evolution and a DNA evolution all in one."  
"DNA? Who does he digivolve with?"  
"Me, silly. When my partner is in his armor form, Dragoonmon, I can use my crystal to Tekno evolve with him and become Zero."  
"So that's what you meant by the whole 'I'm a little of both in this form' comment."  
"Exactly."  
"So, do all the Sentinels have a Tekno from?"  
"No. Aside from Marcus and myself, there are only six others who have Tekno forms. Mind you, there are approximately a hundred or so Sentinels."  
"A hundred!"  
"Yeah. You'd be surprised to find out exactly how many 'Chosen' kids there are around the world."  
"Are there other groups of Digidestined?"  
"Oh yeah. There are easily as many Digidestined as there are Sentinels."  
"So, why don't all the Sentinels have Tekno forms?"  
"Well, in order to have a Tekno form you have to have a crystal. The crystals are very powerful, and Azulongmon doesn't just go handing those things out."  
"Is there some kind of trial or test someone has to go through to get a crystal?"  
"Oh yeah. And it's not easy."  
Ken was quiet for the next few minutes and he pondered a very serious question in his mind. Finally, he came to a decision, "I want to you join you."  
Alex was half way through taking a drink of his soda and had to spit the urge to spit it out, "You what?!?"  
"I want to join you. I want to be a Sentinel."  
"Look, Ken. Your team needs you…"  
"I want revenge Alex. For what's happened to me and my brother. I want to help you put an end to the threat of the Negative Plane."  
"Ken, it's not that simple. This new invasion shouldn't have even been possible. There are lots of unknowns right now."  
"All the more reason you need me."  
"Hey, for what it's worth, I agree with you. But I have to run this past someone else before I give you an answer alright?"  
"How soon will you know?"  
"Tomorrow night."  
"Alright."  
Alex finished off his glass of soda as Ken finished the last piece of pizza. Alex looked at his watch, it was 20:15, plenty of time. Collecting the dishes, Alex glanced over at the arcade, "Shall we?"  
"Oh yes, we shall." Ken replied with a smile.  
As the pair walked toward the arcade the only thought on Alex's mind was 'God, Sam is going to kill me for getting Ken involved in this.'

Will Alex let Ken join the Sentinels? What underhanded schemes will Davis hatch to try and win Kari's heart? You'll just have to wait for Chapter 5 of 'Winds of Change' entitled "The Storm Approaches"


	5. Chapter 5: The Storm Approaches

Chapter 5: The Storm Approaches

Alex had been trying to sleep peacefully for the last hour, and he probably would have succeeded were it not for the constant beeping coming from his laptop every thirty seconds. Someone had been trying to get him to respond to an Instant Messaging request, completely ignoring his away message which clearly stated that he was asleep.  
It soon became obvious to Alex that, who ever it was, was not going to go away until he answered them.  
With a groggy groan, Alex crawled out of his bed and walked over to the desk that his laptop was setup on, being careful not to trip over the network cable that ran across the floor, out the door, and across the hall into Ken's room.  
Alex ran his finger over the touchpad mouse and had to squint his eyes as his laptop's display flickered to life.

SENTINEL IM  
--------------------  
Chat Session Established with OMEGA

ZERO What's up Marcus?  
OMEGA Nadda much, just wanted to check in and se how things were going. I figured you'd be up.  
ZERO Why would I be up? Do you realize what time it is over here?  
OMEGA Yeah, it's like 0100 right?  
ZERO 0108 to be exact. So what would I be doing up at 1 in the morning?  
OMEGA Well, I figured your body wouldn't have adjusted to the new time zone yet. You know, the whole jet lag thing.  
ZERO Yeah, except you seem to forget that I don't get jet lag.  
OMEGA *sweat drop* Oh yeah, that's right. I completely forgot.  
ZERO *Evil Glare* I bet you did. So, is there any particular reason you hauled me out of bed or were you just messaging me to be a pest?  
OMEGA Well, yes there is a reason… the fact that I get to pester you is just icing on the cake. :-p  
ZERO Remind me to cause you severe bodily harm when I get back. :-\  
OMEGA Anywho, your woman IMed me on AIM about an hour ago, wondering where you are.  
ZERO My WHAT?  
OMEGA Your woman, Melissa.  
ZERO Don't even go there. Melissa and I are just friends.  
OMEGA Rrrrriiiiigggghhhhhtttttt. I've seen the way you two look at each other.  
ZERO Whatever. Why was she wondering where I was?  
OMEGA Something about needing to get some lab data from you so she could finish writing a report for Physics.  
ZERO Aw Hell, I knew I forgot to do something before I left!  
OMEGA Did you tell her you were going to Japan over break?  
ZERO Not exactly. I told her I was going out of town.  
OMEGA Well, speak of the devil.. She just signed on to AIM.  
ZERO What's her SN?  
OMEGA AlexsGurl  
ZERO Please tell me that was a joke.  
OMEGA LOL, yeah. It's MelVos.  
ZERO Kewl, thanx. I'll catch ya later.  
OMEGA Catch ya d00dz0r!

Chat Session Terminated

AOL IM  
-----------

SentinelZero: Hey Melissa. It's Alex.  
MelVos: ALEX!!! Where are you? I've been trying to reach you all day.  
SentinelZero: Umm… Well, I'm in Japan.  
MelVos: Japan? I know you said you were headed out of town for break, but I didn't think you were going overseas.  
Sentinel Zero: Yeah well, it's kinda nice to get out of the frozen tundra that is Minnesota every once and a while.  
MelVos: Wish you would'a brought me with you. :-(  
SentinelZero: Sorry, I just needed some time to escape from my normal life. Other wise I would have brought you along.  
MelVos: Really?  
SentinelZero: Of course. :-)  
MelVos: Ok, I forgive you then.  
SentinelZero: For what?  
MelVos: Not sending me the lab notes before you left.  
SentinelZero: Oh yeah, those silly things. Heh. You have MS Word right?  
MelVos: Yeah.  
SentinelZero: Ok, here ya go.  
Sending file PhyLab27.doc, 23 Kb  
Finished sending file.  
MelVos: Thanks Alex. I really appreciate it.  
SentinelZero: Not a problem. Well, I'm going back to bed now; I'll see ya when I get back.  
MelVos: Bed? What time is it over there?  
SentinelZero: Well, it's just past 0115 now.  
MelVos: Oh wow, what are doing up so early?  
SentinelZero: Marcus woke me up. Which reminds me, if you run into him over break… kick him in the shins a couple of time for me.  
MelVos: Shal do. :-)  
SentinelZero: Thanx. Catch ya!

SentinelZero signed off 01:16:12

Alex yawned, then groggily walked back over to his bed and fell into the pillow face first.

Marcus leaned back in his chair and let out a deep sigh as he closed his eyes. Had he not sensed a dark presence heaving at the edge of his mind, he probably would have fallen asleep. "Yes Master?"  
"What news do you have for me Marcus?"  
"Everything is going according to plan so far. I'll begin to collect the children soon."  
"You're certain the Sentinels won't interfere?"  
"The Sentinels? No, Alex will keep them out of this."  
"Why would he do that?"  
"As far as Alex is concerned, this is nothing more than a personal matter between him and I. By the time he figures out what  
"And what of Alex? He's proven himself to be a cunning warrior."  
"Alex, I'll be able to deal with."  
"Excellent. I have another task for you."  
"I'm at your command."  
"Daemon has taken his forces and gone rogue. The fool believes that he can succeed where I failed."  
Marcus let out a descending whistle, "That's definitely going to make things a hair more difficult. However, it's nothing I didn't already predict."  
"What have you done?"  
"I have two agents that have infiltrated his ranks. Daemon doesn't know they are loyal to me and me alone."  
"You don't mean those two idiots you created?"  
"They may come across as incompetent, but if you look at their track record, they've actually been getting the job done. While yes, they have failed to eliminate the Digidestined; they have succeeded in preventing them from causing any major harm to our plans."  
"How do you plan on dealing with Daemon?"  
"I'm not going to deal with him at all. I'll just let Alex take care of him for us. Being that Daemon and his ilk are from the Negative Plane, this is an issue for the Sentinels to deal with."  
"You realize that entails? I would like to recover as many of his resources as possible."  
"Yes, but I don't think that there is any other way around it. We'll have to consider Daemon and all his followers as lost and move on accordingly. Were we to further divert resources to eliminating the traitor, it could possibly endanger our objectives. "  
"Very well then, proceed with you plans. Remember, I'm keeping a close eye on you Marcus. If you betray me.."  
"I won't betray you Master; I want to see Azulongmon and all of his cronies dead just as much as you do. I promised Jen that I would avenge her death against those responsible. If Azulongmon had told us everything that he knew, or more importantly didn't know, then I highly doubt that Jen would be dead."  
"Alex knows all this, and yet he persists on aiding Azulongmon, why?"  
"Because he promised Lauren that he would always defend the Digital World. And Alex has done just that. No matter how much he hates Azulongmon, he won't renege on his promise to her."  
"You realize you might have to kill him."  
"I know. So does Alex."  
"Alex knows of our plans?"  
"I think he does. Of the many things Alex is, blind and stupid he is not."  
"Will you fight him?"  
"Yes, and he will fight me. To the death if necessary. We may be friends, but we are also fighting for causes we believe in, those causes just happen to be opposed to one another. We respect each other enough to know that we can not change the others mind."  
"Excellent. When will you have the first child?"  
"By the day's end Master."  
"Wonderful. Report to me when you have him."  
"Yes Master."

Ken wandered into the kitchen, still half asleep. As was usual on Saturday mornings, Mrs. Ichijouji was busy cooking breakfast. Ken glanced at the clock as he walked over to the table; it was just a little after 0930.  
"Good morning Ken dear. Your usual for breakfast?"  
"That would be great. Thanks Mom."  
"So, where did you and Alex end up last night?"  
"We went over to Cyber Zone."  
"You mean that Pizzeria/Arcade you and Davis like to hang out at?"  
"Yup. It was a blast."  
"Did you show Alex that game you really like?"  
"Yeah I showed him Dance Dance Revolution, he did ok at it. The game that he really cleaned up on was Silent Scope 2."  
"Now which one is that?"  
"It's the one that you didn't like too much, the sniper game."  
"Oh ok."  
"Speaking of Alex, is he up yet?"  
"Yes. As a matter of fact, he just left about tem minutes ago."  
"Did he say where he was going?"  
"Just mentioned having an old friend to go visit. All done, here ya go." Ken's mother placed a plate with Ken's breakfast on the table in front of him.  
"Thanks Mom, you're the best." Ken leaned up and kissed his mother on the cheek and then went about eating his breakfast.

"I've been doing this far too often lately." Alex said to himself as he had finally located Sam Ichijouji's gravestone. "I mean, I'm only seventeen, for the love of god. I shouldn't have this many dead friends at this age." Letting out a deep sigh, Alex reached into his right pocket and pulled out a yellow crystal shard which he placed on top of the grave stone. The shard began pulsing with a faint, yellow glow. After a moment, a ghostly image of a young boy appeared in front of Alex.  
"Hello Sam. It's been a long time."  
The ghost smiled at him and nodded.  
"Look, I know that I promised that I'd keep Ken as far away from the Sentinels and the Digital World as I could. But that's not possible anymore Sam. I'm sorry."  
The ghost's smile faded into a disapproving scowl.  
"Look, a lot has happened. Ken's already involved, to a very dangerous level. The only way I can protect him now is if I draw him closer to our side of the conflict. I have to make him a Sentinel. Besides, joining the Sentinels was Ken's idea, not mine."  
The ghost crossed his arms and closed his eyes, as if thinking about something difficult. After a few moments, he opened his eyes and gave Alex a reluctant but approving nod.  
"Thank you Sam. I'm truly sorry it's come to this, but it's the only way."  
The ghost nodded his head again, and then faded from existence.  
Alex collected the crystal shard from the top of the gravestone, "I'll be seeing you again soon enough. I just have a few things left to do, and then I can be with you and the girls again."

Davis was busy trying to track down Veemon so he could apologize to his partner. It took Davis most of the afternoon to track down his partner; he found Veemon sitting on a rock overlooking a deep canyon somewhere in the Notelrac Mountain zone of the Digital World.  
Davis came up behind his partner and put his hand on Veemon's shoulder. Veemon angrily shrugged off Davis' hand.  
"Veemon, please. Look, I'm sorry for how I acted yesterday. Throwing you through a Digi-port was completely uncalled for.."  
Veemon quickly spun around and angrily interrupted Davis, "Yes, yes it was Davis. You have no right to treat me that way. I thought I was your friend."  
"You are. You're my best friend in the whole world." Davis let out a deep sigh, "Probably the only one I have left."  
"What happened yesterday Davis?"  
"Kari and T.K. … they um… they're uh.."  
"Together now?"  
Davis could only nod his head.  
"Lemme guess, you didn't exactly take the news well?"  
Davis chuckled, "That would be an understatement. I just don't know if I can be around the group anymore with those two dating."  
"Aren't you going to try and win Kari from T.K.?"  
"I've been trying to come up with ways to do that ever since I found out they were together."  
"And?"  
"And I haven't been able to come up with a damn thing. I've been too worried about finding you."  
Veemon turned to face his partner, "Really?"  
Davis smiled for the first time since finding out about T.K. and Kari, "Truly."  
"Well, maybe we can come up with something together." Veemon said with a mischievous smile.  
"You sure you want to help me with this?"  
"Of course! If you don't win Kari's heart, I haven't got a snowball's chance in a blast furnace to win Gattomon's heart."  
"Partners?" Davis asked as he extended his hand to Veemon.  
Veemon hopped down off his rock, took Davis' hand and gave it a gentle shake, "Partners."

Alex arrived back at the Ichijouji residence to find no one home. He headed to his room and booted up his laptop. After waiting a few moments to allow all the services on his system to start, Alex called up a Digi-port, setting the login location to node 00, the Core of the Digital World.  
The Core was just as he remembered; a chaotic, whirling maelstrom of digital data. Everywhere Alex looked, he could see brilliant, pulsing streams of colored light; zipping about. The Core was a lot like space, in the fact that it was a zero-G environment. Alex floated steadily in the sea of data, trying to get his sense of direction straightened out.  
"God I hate this place." Alex thought to himself as he struggled to fight the vertigo that was starting to set in.  
A voice spoke up from behind Alex, "Alex! What are you doing here?"  
Alex spun around to face whoever had just addressed him, "Gennai." There was a hint of disgust in Alex's voice as he said the old guardian's name.  
"To what do we owe the honor of your visit?"  
"I'm here to see Azulongmon."  
"My I ask why you are here to see him?"  
"No, you may not. Just do your job you little servant daemon, or I'll replace you with a very small shell script."  
Gennai frowned, "Unfortunately, Azulongmon is unavailable just now."  
"When will he be available?"  
"It could be some time; he's meeting with the other three Guardians right now."  
"I'll be back in three hours. When I return, Azulongmon is going to see me whether he's 'available' or not. So be a good little servant and run along and tell your master when to expect me."  
"Just who do you think you are?"  
Alex pulled out his D3 and called up the Gate program on it, setting the new login location for node 47, Acidem Plains. "I'm the only chance he's got to survive, and if he wants my help, he'll make himself available." Alex then vanished in a streak of teal light.

Marcus sat back in his chair and let out a sigh, "There, everything is ready for our little operation." He spun in his computer chair to face his partner, "Lichmon."  
"Yes Marcus?"  
"I'm going to need you to wait by login node 09 -- the boy we're after will login there."  
"And once I have him?"  
"Transport him back to the temple."  
"What about Alex?"  
"I'll worry about Alex; you worry about getting the boy to the temple. Now go."  
Marcus opened a Digi-port on his computer and sent Lichmon through.  
  


The Digidestined, minus Davis, had spent a relaxing afternoon in the Digital World indulging in their recently discovered favorite past-time, destroying Control Spires. Much to everyone's delight, especially T.K.'s, they had chosen to clear out the Acidem Plains, which had a much more enjoyable climate than the Angic Desert. They also chose the Acidem Plains for its sparse coverage of Control Spires because they were short handed today. Davis had canceled at the last minute saying that he had a family function to attend. Having made short work of all the Spires in the zone, the group had collectively decided that it was far too nice a day to log out just yet, and were relaxing in the shade of a tree to escape the mid-afternoon sun.  
Ken sighed as he leaned back against the tree, "What a beautiful day."  
"I know, we've been so busy saving the Digital World lately, we haven't had much time to enjoy it." Yolei commented as she rested her head on Ken's shoulder.  
"Come to think of it, this is the first time we've HAD time to enjoy it since the gates to the Digital World reopened." T.K. remarked.  
"It's too bad Davis couldn't make it today and had to miss out on all of this." Cody said.  
"Alex too, it would have been nice to spend some more time with him" Kari said.  
"Yeah, where is Alex, Ken? He said he was going to be here." Patamon asked.  
"I don't know Patamon; he was gone by the time I got up this morning. Out seeing an old friend, my mom said."  
Wormmon noticed that Gatomon had taken on a brooding look since Alex's name had been mentioned, "Something wrong Gatomon?" Wormmon asked.  
"I don't know about Alex. I just.. I get a funny feeling from him. Like something about him isn't quite right. Same kind of feeling I used to get when Ken was around back when he was the Digimon Emperor."  
Kari looked at her partner confusedly, "So you think Alex is evil or something?"  
"No, not evil per-say; I don't know, I just feel very uncomfortable when he's around."  
Everyone jumped to their feet in surprise as a teal colored streak of light rained down onto the field a few feet in front of them. Much to their surprise, Alex materialized from the teal light, wearing his usual all black attire and sunglasses. "Relax guys, it's just me."  
"What WAS that Alex? I mean, how did you do that?" Cody asked.  
Alex tilted his head in confusion at Cody's question, "Huh.. Oh! The whole 'beam me up Scotty' entrance." Alex chuckled a little to himself. "That's the Gate program. It allows me to move around the Digital World by jumping from login node to login node. It can also drop me anywhere within a ten kilometer radius of a login node, which is what you just saw. So, what're you guys up to?"  
"Nothing much, just relaxing and enjoying the Digital World." Ken replied.  
"We were actually just about to head home -- T.K. and I have some errands we have to run before dinner tonight" Kari said.  
T.K. was about to give Kari a confused look when he remembered what Gatomon had said a few moments earlier.  
Yolei let out a disappointed sigh. "I suppose I should get going too. I have some chores at the family store that I've been putting off for a while now that I should probably get taken care of."  
After a short walk, the four Digidestined, their partners, and Alex arrived at login node 47 and logged out.

The group, including Alex, rematerialized back at in Yolei's room, where they had logged in from earlier in the day. Everyone except for Kari.  
"That's odd, where could she be?" Ken asked.  
"Well she should have come through the gate by now. Yolei, can you call up the camera on node 47?" Alex asked.  
"Sure Alex, hold on a second." Yolei said as she planted herself in her computer chair and went to work on the keyboard. The image of the area surrounding node 47 soon appeared on Yolei's monitor, Kari was nowhere to be seen.  
As the minutes ticked by, T.K. was began to get noticeably panicked. He grabbed the front of Alex's shirt. "Well where is she 'Mr. I know everything about the Digital World'. Huh? What did you do with her?"  
Alex calmly grabbed T.K.'s wrists and rotated them outward, breaking the younger boy's grip, "I didn't do anything to her. And I have no idea where she is, but I can locate her if you give me some time."  
"How much time?" Ken asked.  
"A couple of hours."  
"Is there anything we can do to help?" Cody asked.  
"Yeah," Alex shifted his gaze to T.K., "stay calm and have faith in my ability to track Kari down."  
"That's it?!? We're supposed to just sit here and wait!"  
"Yes, T.K. That's precisely what you supposed to do."  
"Why? Because we'd be getting in your way or something?"  
"Honestly? Yah. I have some tools at my disposal that will help me track Kari down, and if you were there asking me what I was doing every five seconds it would take me a lot longer to track her down. So, it's really up to you. You can stop asking me questions and let me go, or we can sit here and continue to argue while Kari remains wherever she may be."  
T.K. was taken back by the bluntness of Alex's statement. As hurtful as it was, T.K. knew it was the truth, "I'm sorry Alex, I'm just worried. I hate feeling this helpless."  
Alex placed his hands on T.K. shoulders reassuringly, "I know. We all would hate to be in your position. But if I'm right, and if who I think has her does have her; I'm the only person here capable of getting her back. Trust me, I will get her back, alright?" T.K. nodded his head. "Okay then, I'll be in touch as soon as I find out something."  
Alex then turned and held his D3 up to the computer monitor "DIGI-PORT OPEN!" and was gone.  
T.K. pulled out his D-terminal and began composing a message.  
"T.K. what are you doing?" Ken asked.  
"I'm send a message to Tai and the others, just incase Alex can't find Kari."

To say that Kari was surprised to be staring at a desert instead of Yolei's room when she came though the Digi-port would have been an understatement.  
"Well that's odd." Kari located the login node and pulled out her D3, "Log out."  
Nothing.  
Kari stared at her D3 in bewilderment. It seemed to be working properly. She checked the D3's display to see what zone she was in; Zone 81 The Erihppas Desert. She'd never head of this zone before, nor could she recall it ever being on any of the maps of the Digital World that she had ever seen. She examined the T.V. that acted as the login node for this zone; it seemed to be functioning fine. She again held her D3 up to the login node, "Log out."  
Again, nothing.  
"Ok, I'm officially scared now."  
Three Dark Terrormon erupted from the sand, encircling Kari.  
"Ok, now I'm VERY scared now."  
"I'm sorry for scaring you, but it was necessary."  
Kari blinked, the voice sounded human. A figure appeared from behind the Dark Terrormon in front of her. For a brief second, Kari thought it was Alex. He was dressed exactly like Alex had been earlier, T-shirt, unbuttoned and untucked denim shirt, jeans, work boots, all black. He even wore the same Oakley X-metal sunglasses that Alex did. As the figure drew closer, however, she noticed that he was a good two or three inches taller than Alex. His hair was dark brown, and cut short and spiky. She also caught the glint of something silver hanging from his belt by his right hip.  
"Who… Who are you?"  
The figure grinned, "I'm surprised, knowing Alex I'm sure he would have at least mentioned me once or twice. I am Marcus."  
"Alex said you're his best friend. How can you betray him like this?"  
"I've betrayed him?"  
"You're working with his enemies against him. How can you do that to him?"  
"Oh, Alex is rather aware of who I'm involved with in the Digital World. As for your question as to why, well I'll leave Alex to answer that for you." Marcus said with a chuckle.  
"What do you want with me?"  
"With you? Nothing really. You're to be live bait for the one I'm really after. I promise you won't be harmed, and you have my word that I'll release you as soon as I have the person I want."  
"Why don't I believe you?"  
"Probably because you see me as some evil monster." Marcus looked down at his wrist watch, "Don't worry kiddo, you knight is shining armor will be along shortly and everything will be alright."

Tai was busy working on a term paper for one of his classes when his D-Terminal chirped to alert him to a new message. Much to his surprise, he had two new messages that had arrived almost simultaneously. Tai pulled his D-terminal out of his backpack by his chair and called up the new messages.

Tai,  
Kari's disappeared. We were logging out and Kari never came through. Alex seems to think he has an idea of what happened and is going to try and track her down. For some reason I don't trust this guy Tai. I don't know what to do. Maybe we should get the group together and figure things out? I dunno. Please Tai, I need your help.

T.K.

Tai called up the second message.

Tai,  
I have you sister. She is unharmed and safe for the time being. If you wish her to remain so, you will follow my instructions.  
Attached to this message is code that will open a Digi-Port. You will enter that Digi-port with your Digivice alone. You will alert no one as to where you are going. Failure to comply with my instructions will have unfortunate consequences for you sister.  
This message will delete itself five minutes after you open it. At that time you will not longer be able to open the required digi-port. I suggest you get moving.

The message was signed with a red Omega symbol.

Tai knew that he didn't have a choice. He couldn't take the chance that Kari would be harmed. He collected his Digivice from his backpack and used the code attached to the message to open a Digi-port.

Alex and Marcus are on a collision course for one another, Davis is wondering where he belongs, Tai is headed for trouble, and the rest of the Digidestined are seemingly powerless to do anything about it. Find out how things continue to play out in the next chapter of Winds of Change entitled "The Omega Factor."


End file.
